


Beowulf

by nonverbalspell (AnionsareOnions)



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-24 15:17:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 27,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2586206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnionsareOnions/pseuds/nonverbalspell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Detective Yang Xiao Long and private detective Blake Belladonna are assigned to investigate the death of Tukson Kovach. But as they investigate further into his mysterious death, they get closer to a dangerous organization known as The White Fang and find themselves investigating a crime much larger than they originally thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Detective Yang Xiao Long pulled up to the once sleepy little apartment building in her police cruiser and parked not far from the taped off entryway, amidst the other police vehicles on the front lawn. She locked the doors behind her and made her way to the officer at the front.

"Detective Xiao Long," she declared as she flashed her badge at the officer.

  
"Give me a minute so I can pencil you in, please."

  
"No hurry. It's not like the dead get any deader."

Yang waited a moment as the officer put her name down and lifted the yellow police tape for her. She ducked her head under and continued into the hallway. Analysts were dusting the staircase handrails and there was a bustling of personal down the hallway. Yang followed the flashing of the cameras while keeping a sharp eye out for anything that seemed out of place. She spotted one of her lieutenants just outside the back room.

"Trying to show up a higher ranking officer?"

  
Her lieutenant- Lie Ren- turned to face her in surprise.

  
"I happened to be in the area when they radioed in."

  
"I'm just teasing you!" Yang's grin fell. "How's it look in there?"

  
"Pretty bad. The family is distraught."

 

"And the victim?"

  
"Don't know yet. We'll have to wait for the autopsy to find out the cause of death. Apparently, he was living in the back apartment alone. Didn't go out much. Didn't have people over often. He just went to work and came back and no one get saw him any other time."

  
"Where did he work?"

  
"He worked at PC World as a technician. You know, that seedy store off of 8th avenue?"

  
"Yeah, my sister wanted to stop there once. Is there any family in here?"

  
"The mother and sister lived not too far from here. They were the ones that found him. They're back there now."

Yang followed the lieutenant's line of sight and saw two obviously distressed women in a side room. Yang shook her head with a sigh. She glanced over at the victim's body and pulled out her case notebook. Ren nodded once before turning to ask the medical examiner some questions.

  
Yang took a few notes on the position of the body, his bowl of soggy cereal, a shattered mug of coffee, and the fact that the man's body looked almost entirely untouched. There was no blood, no visible stab wounds, no weapons nearby. The guy just seemed to drop dead.

  
Yang crouched down to closer inspect the victims face when someone blocked the light and cast a shadow over the body. Yang sighed and twisted her body to face the person behind her. A sharply dressed woman with long black hair stared down at Yang blankly with a pen poised over a pad of paper. Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?"

  
"Are you the lead detective?"

  
"I'm asking the questions here," Yang said as she stood up. "Who are you and why are you on my crime scene?"

  
"Blake Belladonna. Private Detective. I got a call to work this case."

Yang glared at Ren who shrugged her an apologetic look.

  
"It was Goodwitch."

 

Yang sighed and turned back towards the private eye.

  
"Detective Yang Xiao Long. As long as we can agree to work together, things'll work out smoothly."

The private detective nodded sharply before sidestepping Yang to get to the body. Yang took the hint and walked over to the two women to ask them some questions. She flipped to the next page in her notebook and scribbled the date and case number at the top.

“Excuse me, I know you’ve been through a lot today, but could you answer some questions for me?”

The older woman looked up at Yang over her tissue with blood shot eyes. The daughter laid a hand on her mother’s shoulder to steady her. The older woman closed her eyes and cleared her throat.

“Tukson didn’t deserve this. He lived a simple life. Every week, he would invite my daughter and I over for dinner. He always loved fiddling with electronics. Wires and cables would be strewn all over his floor when he was a child.” Mrs. Kovach pulled another tissue from the box closest to her and blew her nose loudly. “Today was- today was his birthday. Kana and I decided to surprise him with a visit. But when I opened the door, we-”

The woman began to cry again and her daughter rubbed her mother’s back soothingly. Yang watched them in silence for a moment before resuming her questioning.

“Kana right?”

The young woman glanced at Yang for a moment before handing her mother the box of tissues and pushing the trash can closer to her.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

  
“Can you tell me anything specific about what you may have seen or heard when you walked into the building?”

 

“Well, the door was locked and I didn’t see anyone in the entryway or outside by the street.”

  
“Was your brother acting strangely in the days or weeks before his death?”

  
“You know what? He was. He’s been extra jumpy these few last weeks. I guess it started about a week before that senator was found with kiddie porn on his computer.”

Yang raised her eyebrows in interest as she scrawled the information down. Mrs. Kovach loudly blew her nose again.

“Did he tell you anything strange in that time?”

  
“Hm… not really. Other than being fidgety, he didn’t seem off.”

  
“I’m sorry but I have to ask this: did Tukson have any enemies? Anyone that might try to harm him, threaten him, or anything like that?”

  
“No!” Mrs. Kovach gripped the tissue box in her hand tightly. “Tukson was my sweet innocent child! He must have died of a heart attack!”

  
“Mother please calm down! This officer is only asking general questions she’s required to ask!”

Yang took a step back from the two women, closed her notebook, and slid it back into her coat pocket. Someone cleared their throat behind her. Yang looked over her shoulder and saw Ren motioning to get into the room. She slid out of the way and let her lieutenant attempt to calm the Kovachs down.

Yang stood off to the side of the room as the medical examiners began carrying Tukson’s body out to the truck in the front. The evidence retrieval team had already cleaned up their things and documented all their findings and whatever else they did with those huge black cases. Yang wasn’t really interested in their methods of spreading black powder everywhere. She waited for the door to close behind the examiners before making one last sweep of the apartment. She noticed the private detective out of the corner of her eye shadowing her and jotting down something in her notepad every so often. Yang shrugged it off and finished her sweep.

  
Once Yang was done, she caught Ren’s attention to wave goodbye and headed towards the entryway where reporters were still hanging around outside. None of them bothered her as she walked to her cruiser (she had threatened to charge reporters with obstruction of justice many times before) but they still took countless pictures. She clicked the doors unlocked and slid into the front seat, closing the door behind her.

“Now off to the station to write up that report,” she mumbled to herself.

  
“You may use my notes if you’d like.”

  
Yang whirled her head around to face her unexpected passenger.

  
“What the hell are you doing in my car?”

Blake shrugged and pulled a folded paper from her front coat pocket and handed it to Yang. Yang immediately recognized the neat, curly handwriting as Goodwitch’s. She sighed as she unfolded it and skimmed the contents.

“I love how she doesn't ask if I wanted to be your chauffeur. This won’t be a problem for the majority of the time but I’d have still liked to be asked or something. Whatever, I’ll guess we’ll just head over to the precinct now.”

Yang turned the key and started the engine; she put the car into gear and pulled out of the apartment parking lot. After a few minutes of silence, she glanced over at her new -temporary- partner and grinned.

“I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”


	2. Chapter 2

Yang had plenty of things she loved to do but having to share her case notes with a quiet, judgemental private detective was not one of them. The P.I. didn’t really poke around Yang’s desk and didn’t go through any of her drawers or paperwork (at least as far as Yang could tell) and Yang appreciated that. But the silence was unsettling. She had tried to compliment the other woman’s outfit but was answered with a cool stare and a hesitant “Thanks.”

She had to admit though, Blake took damn good notes. They were extremely detailed and it almost seemed to Yang that everything was accounted for. She had included minute details like the open latch on the back window and the cabinet door that was slightly ajar. Writing the investigative report was almost too easy with their combined notes.

When the report was finished, Yang hit print and left her desk to grab a coffee and pick up the printed report. She stirred in a packet of sugar and sipped at the hot liquid as she dropped her report off to be filed. She glanced over to her desk where she left the private eye reading some book and, seeing she was still there, headed to the chief's office to demand some answers.

The door to the chief's office was open -as usual- and all the blinds were open, allowing passing people to see inside. Yang checked to see if Goodwitch was around before walking into the office and closing the door behind her. The chief of police looked up from his mug of coffee.

“Ah, Miss Xiao Long, what could I do for you?”

  
“Mr. Ozpin, I’d like to ask you why Belladonna was assigned to my case and, by extension, me.”

  
“Was she now?” Ozpin sipped at his coffee slowly as he watched Yang fidget and twist her hair around her finger. “I advised Ms. Goodwitch to hire Belladonna specifically for your case. Whatever else Ms. Goodwitch did was beyond my instruction.”

  
“But why was she hired in the first place? This is probably just a simple heart attack victim!”

  
“Ah, you said just then ‘probably’. I hired Ms. Belladonna because I felt she had certain skills and knowledge in an area that would benefit the closure of this case." Ozpin took a sip from his mug. "Are you doubting my judgement?”

Yang lowered her eyes and stared at the ugly rug.

“Of course not, sir,” she mumbled.

  
“It’s alright to be doubtful, detective. I’ve made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child. But I do not think my judgement here is one of them.” Ozpin took another sip from his coffee mug. “Now if that is all, you’re free to go.”

  
“Thank you, sir,” Yang nodded, turned then reached for the door handle to open the door behind her.

  
“Oh and detective? Could you please ask Ms. Goodwitch to step into my office as you pass by her?”

  
“Of course, sir.”

  
Yang stepped out of Ozpin’s office, closed the door, and walked over to Goodwitch’s desk. She waited in front of the desk for a moment until Goodwitch glared up at her from her paperwork.

  
“Yes?”

  
“Ozpin would like to speak to you in his office.”

Goodwitch stared at Yang for a moment before sighing and clipping her paperwork together. She placed the stack of papers neatly in the top drawer of her desk and got up to walk over to Ozpin’s office without looking at Yang again. Yang didn’t move until she heard Ozpin’s door click shut and let out the breath she was holding.

She glanced over her shoulder to see the office’s window shades dropping. No one knew exactly what went on behind that door but pretty much everyone in the precinct agreed that Ozpin and Goodwitch were an item. These speculations were only discussed after work at whichever bar they happened to chose, of course. Glynda Good-bitch would unleash her wrath if word got out that she and Ozpin -a superior officer- were banging.

Yang snickered as she walked back to her desk. The private detective was nowhere to be seen and she hadn't left the book she was reading either. Yang shrugged and woke her computer up to look over her notes for the Kovach case and was getting around to review Belladonna’s notes for the case when her phone buzzed and started blasting “Hey Soul Sister.” Ren shot her a disapproving look from his desk across from hers but Yang only grinned at him as she answered the call.

“Hey soul sister!”

  
“Yang! So, I know you’re probably all busy with work and whatever but my class let out early and I was hungry so I went to buy a snack but then I remembered that I needed that money to take the bus home! I would have asked a friend to take me home but they had all already left and I still haven’t gotten any of their numbers so I thought that maybe I could ask you to pick me up! It doesn’t have to be right now! I can wait ‘till you get off from work and just go hang out in the library or someplace while I wait!”

  
“Slow down Ruby! It’s not a problem for me to bring you home. Besides, I’m about to leave anyway. Give me ten minutes.”

  
“You’re the best Yang!”

  
“Oh, I knew that already.” Yang winked at Ren but he just rolled his eyes and looked away, as usual. "I'll sign out now and head over in a few."

  
"Thanks Yang!"

Yang hung up the call with a laugh and walked back to her desk where her mysterious new partner had just reappeared. The private eye watched Yang as she opened the desk's top drawer and fished her car keys out of the mess. Belladonna immediately stood up when Yang locked the drawer. Yang looked at her questioningly for a moment before shrugging and walked towards the door.

"See you tomorrow Ren!" Yang called out. Her lieutenant groaned behind her.

Yang hit the elevator button to go down. After a minute, the elevator dinged and the doors opened for her. She reached over to hit the first floor button as soon as she got on. When Yang turned around, Belladonna was standing at the elevator door. Yang held an arm out to hold the elevator.

"Can I help you?"

  
"Are you leaving?"

  
"Uh, yeah. I'm going to pick my sister up from school."

  
"Then I have to come with you."

  
"What-" Yang started to protest but the private eye had already stepped onto the elevator.

Yang pulled her arm back and the doors closed. She stared at Belladonna.

"And why exactly do you have to come with me to pick up my sister?"

 

"I need a ride home and Ms. Goodwitch said you'd be in charge of that."

  
"Wait so, not only am I driving you around during investigations, I have to pick you up and drop you off, too?"

Belladonna nodded. Yang sighed as the elevator dinged. The doors opened up to the first floor of the police building and Yang stepped out, followed closely by Belladonna. She waved at one of the dispatchers before she pushed through the front doors out onto the bustling streets of Chicago. Yang and Belladonna walked to the police parking lot next to the building. Yang's squad car was a spot close to the exit that Yang always parked in. She unlocked the car and Belladonna climbed into the passenger seat. Yang sighed and slid in.

A moment later, they were down the street waiting for a red light. Yang could see Belladonna from the corner of her eye staring at something out the window. She cleared her throat.

"So, where do you live?"

  
"13476 102nd street," Belladonna said without turning to face Yang.

  
"Oh, that's Gambol Road. That's on the way to my place. Do you mind if we stop to pick my sister up before I drop you off?"

 

"That's fine."

  
"Of course it is," Yang muttered.

Yang and Belladonna spent the rest of the car ride in silence. Yang called Ruby to be out in front of the campus while at a red light a few blocks away. She pulled up and Ruby bounced on her heels until she saw Belladonna in the passenger seat. She made a face but Yang glared at her before Belladonna could notice it. Ruby suddenly smirked and nearly threw the back door off its hinges as she swung it open.

"Hi Yang! Thanks for picking me up! Is this your new girlfriend?"

Yang's jaw dropped as she stared at Ruby -who was grinning- with the rear-view mirror. Belladonna looked at Yang pointedly.

"Why you-" Yang started. "No she isn't my girlfriend. She's-"

  
"Oh come on Yang, You don't have to lie to me!"

  
"I'm not," Yang said through gritted teeth. "She was assigned to this case I'm working on."

Belladonna snickered behind a raised hand. Yang glared at her before stepping on the gas pedal. Ruby and Blake both decided to stop teasing Yang- at least for the moment. The two of them talked -about what, Yang didn't know because Ruby did most of the talking- and introduced themselves and whatnot. Yang ignored them the entire time.

Yang somehow managed to speed out of the college campus without running anyone over. The drive to Gambol Road was nearly cut in half because of Yang's lead foot. She jerked to a stop in front of Belladonna's place, some condominium in which she disappeared after she got out of Yang's car.

Ruby climbed to the front seat right after Belladonna got out and closed the door.

"So a new case huh?"

Yang shot her sister a dirty look.

"Does is have anything to do with that senator? You know, the one found with kiddie porn on his hard drive?"

  
"You sound a little too excited concerning the subject."

  
"Yeah well are you?"

  
"No Ruby, this is just a mysterious death case. Probably just a heart attack. We get these sort of calls all the time.”

  
"Then why did Ozpin assign a private detective to it?"

  
"I don't know. But if this case has absolutely anything to do with Senator Ironwood, I'll ask someone out. Deal?"

  
"Deal!"

———————————  
"Ozpin, was it really necessary to hire Belladonna? Detective Xiao Long is certainly capable of handling this case on her own."

Ozpin stood at his office window and stared down at the streets of Chicago. He took a sip from his coffee mug.

"I know that Ms. Belladonna's skills will be put to good use in this case. Trust me."

  
"I do. And that's why I'm worried."

Ozpin turned to face Glynda and smiled wistfully at her.

"Things will work out. For us, and for Ironwood. You'll see."


	3. Chapter 3

The staff at PC World didn't seem to have noticed Tukson's disappearance. None of the employees Yang talked to seemed to know anything about his death or his personal life. They kept saying they didn't know much and to ask the manager. But the manager was out at lunch at the time Yang and Blake walked into the dingy store. Blake disappeared off into the heaps of dusty computer junk, leaving Yang to question the workers.

About half an hour later, Blake emerged from the back room and stood next to Yang as she talked to the last employee. Yang scribbled a few things down, thanked the man, then turned to Blake.

"I hope you had more luck than I did."

Blake shrugged and handed the detective her notes. Yang traded hers for Blake's and the two of them took a moment to scan each others notes.

"Not much then, I see."

They swapped their notes back and tucked them away to prepare to leave. Yang thanked the employees and the two women were walking towards the entrance. The door opened and a short, graying man in a gray button down shirt walked in. He stared at Yang.

"You're a cop."

"Um, yes?"

"You're the one parked outside?"

"Yes. Are you the manager of this store?"

The man nodded and gestured the two women towards the back. He unlocked his office next to the storeroom. The three of them filed in and the manager took a seat behind his desk.

"What can I help you with?"

"Well sir, a few days ago, one of your employees- Tukson Kovach- was found dead in his home. We're here to ask you questions about anything you may know about him."

"Oh, that poor man. I'll answer any of your questions to the best of my ability."

"Alright then." Yang and Blake simultaneously pulled their notebooks out. "How long has Mr. Kovach been working here?"

"I hired him a few years ago. Two or three."

"What did he do?"

"He was a programmer. He reprogrammed the old computers we got and cleared out their hard drives and such."

"Did he seem to act strangely in the past week?"

"Well actually... he asked for the week off. I haven't seen him since the Friday before last."

Blake shot Yang a sharp look. Yang nodded slightly without looking away from the manager.

"When you last saw him, did he seem different? Did he do or say anything out of character?"

"He left early that last day, which was unusual. He used to stay late to help me lock up. He's asked for weeks off before but this time, he seemed anxious when he asked. See, I keep an open policy; My employees don't need to tell me why they need the break. I figured that Tukson was anxious over some family issue. So I gave him the week off."

"And then he turns up dead," Blake muttered while writing something in her notepad.

Yang looked at Blake for a moment before turning her attention back to the manager.

"Did Mr. Kovach have any enemies that you may know of?"

"Of course not! He was my best employee and the others always asked him for help in the more technical areas of their jobs. He didn't talk about himself much but we all respected and liked him."

"I see. Thank you for your time sir."

"Of course officer. I hope you catch his killer."

Yang ignored his last comment and stood to shake his hand. Blake followed Yang's lead and the two of them left the building. Yang unlocked her cruiser and the two of them got in.

"So Ruby, my sister, the one you met the other day?"

Blake nodded.

"Well she's getting out of class early today and I offered to pick her up. So I could either drop you off at the precinct and I'll meet you there later or you could come with me and we'll head over to the precinct after we all have lunch."

"Either," Blake said with a shrug.

"But I'm asking you to choose."

"Fine. Ruby can pick where we eat though."

Yang grinned at the P.I. and started the engine.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to the curb where Ruby was bouncing. She threw her stuff into the car before jumping in herself.

"Blake!! Ohmygod I haven't seen you in forever! Yang has talked nonstop about you at home!"

"Hey! No I haven't!" Yang turned to Blake. "I haven't, I promise," Yang reassured the P.I.

"Buuuut I heard we're all going out to lunch?"

"Yes Ruby," Yang sighed. "Where do you wanna go?"

"You mean I can pick?"

"Yup."

"Then... Castle Diner!"

"Alright," Yang put the car in gear. "Lunch is on me guys."

Yang pulled out of the college parking lot and made a right while Ruby was babbling to Blake about something.

————————————————————————————————————

Yang and Blake had dropped Ruby off a few hours ago and were sitting at Yang’s precinct desk going over the case notes from their most recent investigation. The clock read six thirty pm the last time Yang checked and she was getting hungry. She rolled her chair back from her cluttered desk.

“Hey Blake?”

“Hm?” Blake glanced up from one of her notepads.

“It’s getting sorta late and we might be here for a while longer. Wanna just order a pizza and call it dinner?”

“Sure,” Blake chuckled and smiled softly. “But only as long as it has anchovies.”

“I don't really trust anchovies.” Yang pulled herself back to her computer and pulled up her usual pizzeria website to start the order. She clicked the “make your own” option and started building her usual. “They always seemed...fishy to me.”

Yang grinned at Blake but was met by a totally unamused face. She shrugged and turned back to her computer.

“At least Ruby has the decency to complain about my jokes.”

Blake rolled her eyes and went back to reading her notes. Yang watched her for a moment before finishing her pizza. She hit order, put in all her information, then jumped up from her desk. Blake looked up and looked at Yang questioningly.

“Bathroom. The pizza should be down stairs by the time I’m done. The store isn't too far from here so if they get here before im done, they’ll call up. IF that happens, could you pick the pizza up for me?”

Blake shrugged before nodding.

“Thanks. You rock!”

The detective waved at Ren who was just packing up before nearly skipping out of the room. Ren sighed and shook his head. He left and Blake sat in the empty office in silence. She moved her notepads to the side and just sat there for a few minutes. Her eyes were just closing when the phone rang. Blake reached over to pick it up.

“Hello?”

“Is this Miss Belladonna? Yang, sorry, Miss Xiao Long said that if she wasn't down here, i was supposed to call her number and you’d pick up?”

“Oh uh yeah. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Blake hung up the phone and walked over to the elevator. She rode it down to the first floor, picked up the pizza, thanked the delivery man, then took the elevator back up. As she was waiting in the elevator, she cracked open the box a bit to better smell the pizza. She was surprised to find anchovies topping one half of the pizza. The doors opened with a ding and Blake immediately spotted Yang standing by her desk talking to someone on the phone. Blake walked up behind her and placed the pizza on top of some of Yang’s junk.

“Alright thanks. I’ll let her know now.”

Yang hung up the phone and stared at the receiver.

“That was Kovach’s medical examiner.” She looked up at Blake who had a slice of pizza in her hand. “He just finished the autopsy and found something. Tukson Kovach had poison in his blood.”

“So…” Blake lowered her pizza from her mouth. “This means this is a murder case now.”

“Yeah.” Yang slumped into her chair. “This is a murder case now.”


	4. Chapter 4

Yang was sprawled across her apartment couch, lazily flipping through channels on the television. Ruby’s dog Zwei was laying at her feet and licking her toes. Yang’s phone buzzed from where she left it on the table when she walked in the previous night. She didn't look over or move to get it; the only person who ever called her was Ruby. It buzzed for a minute, then fell silent. Yang flipped a few more channels until finally settling on some romantic comedy she never saw the beginning to.  
Yang’s phone buzzed once for an incoming text message. She ignored that as well. A door opened behind the couch and Zwei lifted his head to greet Ruby. He jumped from the couch and ran to the kitchen where Ruby was pouring dog food into Zwei’s bowl. Yang could hear her sister putting the dog food away before opening what seemed like every cabinet in the kitchen. Yang sat up to see Ruby staring at the empty refrigerator.

“Are you looking for something there, little sister?”

“Oh, nothing in particular. Just something to, you know,” Ruby said as she shut the refrigerator door, “eat.”

“Yeah yeah We’ve gotta go grocery shopping soon.” Yang sighed as she got up to check her phone on the table. “We can go out to lunch today if you want.”

Yang reached for her phone but it wasn't where she left it. She stared at the space she was sure she left her phone in. She looked at the pile of paperwork she had brought home with her and rifled through it to make sure none of the suspicious lumps were her phone. She had no such luck.

“Hey Ruby,” Yang called out as she was turning around. “Did you happen to see my phone when you wa…” Yang’s sentence fell when she saw Ruby smirking as she held Yang’s phone in her hand.

“Yeah I saw your phone. And I also saw that Blake texted you!” Ruby laughed as she unlocked her sister’s phone. “Want me to read it to you?”

“Hey! Give that back!”

“‘Yang, it was really very nice of you-”

“I’m warning you Ruby.”

“‘to put the anchovies on the pizza last night.’ Ew anchovies. But you hate anchovies!”

“You forget that I’m a cop.”

“You wouldn’t arrest your own little sister! Besides, you have nothing to charge me with.”

“But I could keep you in holding for twenty four hours. And who ever said there wouldn't be any charges?”

Ruby’s smirk fell. She clutched the phone in her hand and rushed to the center of the room, protected by the couch. Yang grinned at her.

“It seems to me that there is probable cause you are in possession of stolen goods. Even worse- the item in question is the property of a high ranking police detective!”

Ruby started fidgeting and unlocked Yang’s phone again.

“Who could deny a reliable eyewitness testimony?” Yang continued.

Ruby tapped on Yang’s phone while her sister babbled.

“Because of all this, I could arrest you for theft -robbery even! I hope you didn't have any plans for the next five to ten years because you’ll be spending them in prison. Now, would you like me to read you your Miranda now or later?”

“Hello, Blake? Hi! This is Ruby!”

Yang gaped at her sister before lunging at her from over the couch. Ruby stepped back a foot to dodge the attack.

“So, Yang and I were planning on going out to lunch today and Yang suggested we invite you! Except she was waaaaaaay too nervous to call and ask you herself!”

Yang made another lunge for Ruby over the couch and made it over only to fall onto the cushions. Ruby skipped around to the other side of the couch.

“Castle Diner? Sure! I still can’t believe you had never been there before.”

Yang just stopped trying to catch Ruby. She sat up on the couch and watched her sister talk on her phone to invite her business partner to lunch. She tried to focus on the tv where the rom-com was still playing.

“Yeah okay sounds great! We’ll pick you up in half an hour. See you then!”

“I hate you,” Yang muttered just loud enough for Ruby to hear.

“Maybe, but you just proved to me that you do have a crush on Blake!”

“WHAT?! No way!”

“Mhm.” Ruby sat down next to Yang. “You only ever act like this when you like someone. You haven't changed since middle school, you know.”

“Shut up Ruby,” Yang pouted as she got off the couch. “And go get ready for lunch.”

Ruby grinned at her sister’s retreating form and laughed quietly to herself. She got up and pulled out a sticky note pack from one of the drawers. She scrawled a short apology note to Yang and stuck it to the counter. She leashed Zwei and quietly left the apartment. Yang and Blake would both be in for quite the surprise.


	5. Chapter 5

The drive to Blake's apartment was quiet. Yang gripped the steering wheel and fumed the whole way to Gambol Road. She hadn't taken her police cruiser and so saw at least twelve traffic violations committed in her presence. Her mood hadn't gotten any better. Almost half an hour after she left her own apartment -Ruby no where in sight- she finally pulled into the parking lot of Blake's building.

She turned the car off and got out, looking at the post it note with Blake's apartment number on it. She sighed and started up the stairs to the third floor.

"359...359...355, 357...359!"

Yang stuffed the slip of paper into her back pocket before sighing deeply. She knocked on the door twice and waited with her hands behind her back. Blake opened the door a moment later.

"Yang." She said with a nod.

Yang stepped back as Blake locked her door. She turned to face Yang and smiled softly. Yang fidgeted with her fingers.

"You ready to go?"

Blake nodded and started off towards the stairs. Yang followed a few steps behind. The stairs led out to the parking lot and Yang led the way to her car. She unlocked the doors and climbed into the drivers seat. Blake sat down next to her on the passenger side. The two of them stayed silent as Yang got onto the road. A red light a few blocks down stopped them.

"Ruby bailed on me the last minute so it'll just be the two of us."

"Ruby? What do you mean?"

"She said she was going to come; She was the one that called you!"

"I never got a call from her. All I got was a text from you asking if I wanted to go out to lunch."

"Oh."

Yang stared straight ahead and didn't say another word for the rest of the drive to Castle Diner. She parked in one of the spaces close to the front and jumped out of the car, heading to the front door. Blake was right behind her. Yang pulled the door handle and it opened with a bell ringing. A nearby waitress that always served Yang and Ruby smiled at them.

"Hi Yang! Table for you and your date?"

Yang's face flushed a dark red as Blake pretended to cough to mask her laugh. Yang felt her cheeks go hot.

"She's not my date," Yang said quickly. "We're not dating. We're just business partners, Nora."

"Table for two then!"

Nora went bouncing off to one end of the diner and wiped down one of the open tables before placing two menus down. She gestured for Blake and Yang to sit. Blake slid into the booth with her back to the door. Yang nodded a quick thanks as she slid into the opposite.

"So what'll it be for drinks?"

"I'll have a coke,” Yang said as she flipped through her menu to the entrees.

"And I'd like a sweet tea, extra sugar.”

“Sure thing!” Nora went bouncing over to the bar counter and put in the drink order to the bar tender.

Yang was trying her absolute hardest to look anywhere except towards Blake. No matter what Ruby or Nora said, she did not have a crush on Blake. They were partners -colleagues! It would be unprofessional of her to harbor any sort of feelings for Blake -Belladonna- romantic or otherwise. Besides, Ruby was still too naive to really understand crushes and how Yang dealt with them. Why, the last time she liked someone and someone else confronted her about it, she punched them in the face. She had never once gotten all red and flustered, thus proving she wasn't interested in Belladonna. When had she started calling her Blake anyway?

Blake sat silently and watched as Yang struggled her internal battle. She turned to watch Nora rush around and single-handedly serve all the diner’s customers. Blake noticed that Nora knew almost everyone by name and stopped to chat with them a bit -but the orders were surprisingly always delivered on time. Blake was zoning out until the front doorbell chimed again and Nora squealed. She looked up and saw a man she sort of recognized being smothered by the tiny waitress.

“Nora and Ren have been nearly inseparable since they were kids.”

Blake turned and glanced at Yang who was watching Ren and Nora with a faint smile on her face.

“Ren comes here for lunch everyday Nora is on the job and she always reacts the same way when she sees him -like that,” Yang gestured towards Nora who was practically dragging Ren to a stool at the bar. “Yet they still deny being together.”

Blake smiled. Yang started fidgeting her fingers again but hid them under the table to try and compose herself. Nora rushed by with their drinks and practically threw the straws at them before rushing off to continue pestering Ren.

“Isn’t she going to take our orders?”

“Eventually,” Yang chuckled. “Ren will start yelling at her to do her job at some point.”

“NORA!”

Blake turned just as Nora was saluting Ren and running behind the counter to grab some plates of food.

“And that would be it. Funny, its usually at least five minutes before he gets frustrated with her.”

“Sorry for the wait guys! What would you like?”

“The usual, Nora. Thanks.” Yang folded up her menu and handed it to Nora.

“Um, I’d like the tuna sandwich with a side of the homemade chips, please.”

“No problem!”

Nora took the two menus and bounded off to the front where she stashed them. Blake watched as she gave the order slip to the cook in the back. Yang cleared her throat.

“Look, I’m sorry my sister dragged you into her crazy antics. She just thinks I spend too much time at home so she’s always tricking me into going places.”

“It’s alright. I don't get to eat lunch with my friends very often anyway.”

Yang felt her face start to flush and immediately tried to cover it up by pretending to choke on her drink. She coughed for a moment before giving Blake, whom she noticed had a worried expression on her face, an apologetic smile.

“Whoops. Wrong pipe,” she croaked.

It was a total lie and she knew it. Blake didn’t seem to think anything of it, though. The two of them sat in silence as they watched Nora run around the diner. Yang sipped at her coke every now and then. Finally, Nora brought their food to them. She put the two plates on the table.

"Enjoy! Call me if you need anything!" She went off to bother Ren some more.

Blake pulled her tuna sandwich towards her and pulled the toothpick out of the first half. Yang spilled ketchup onto her burger before shoving it in her mouth. Blake offered Yang some of her chips and Yang -who was trying very hard to not overreact- offered some French fries as a trade.

"Sooo where did you go to college?" Yang mumbled through a mouthful of French fries.

"Oh Beacon University. I was a lit major."

"Oh I went to Beacon! I majored in Criminal Justice! Ruby's doing that now."

"Yeah I got my lit degree but decided it wasn't what I was looking for so I switched over to criminal justice."

"It must have been after I graduated because I don't remember you in any of my classes."

"Yeah I switched majors when I was 21. We were probably in the same year originally. How old are you?"

"I'm 25 now. I graduated nearly four years ago."

"That's when I switched. I turned 25 a few months ago," Blake said with a smile.

"How long have you been working as a P.I.?"

"Ever since I got out," Blake shrugged. "The second major didn't take as long as the first so it was about two years ago."

"You didn't want to sign up for the police department?"

"Honestly, I didn't have that kind of time. I was already holding a few part-time jobs that I didn't want to get rid of before I got any clients."

"Oh, yeah. I understand."

"What about you? Was the police detective life the one you always wanted?"

"Well, sort of." Yang laughed. "I'd always wanted to help people and one day in high school I realized I could do just that by becoming a cop." Yang shrugged sheepishly. "I really had to get my ass into gear for the police academy though."

Blake laughed and Yang smiled back. They continued to chat while eating lunch, Nora popping in to refill their drinks every now and then. At some point, Ren glanced over at Yang and she noticed. He gave her a questioning look while inclining his head towards Blake. Yang shook her head furiously.

Nora was filling up Yang's coke for the fourth time when she pulled out a small menu from her apron.

"Would either of you be interested in a dessert?"

"I'll try the strawberry banana milkshake today," Yang told Nora without even looking at the menu.

"I'd like a plain vanilla malt, please," Blake handed the menu back to Nora.

"Okay no problem! I'll just take your plates then." She grabbed their dirty dishes and skipped to the kitchen to drop them off and order the desserts.

"You're here practically every day and you've never tried the strawberry banana?" Blake smirked.

"Oh, that's just a running joke I have with Nora. I've ordered all the shakes but the time I ordered the strawberry banana, she wasn't working that day." Yang chuckled. "She's never let me forget that."

Blake smiled. A few minutes later, Nora came back with the two shakes and left straws and spoons. She took the empty cups and the last of the plates.

"Enjoy guys! I'll bring the bill around. Are you splitting it?"

"No. I'll pay." Yang pulled out her wallet from her pocket.

"No you don't have to." Blake was already taking out her own wallet.

"No no I insist."

"Oook..." Nora shifted on her feet uncomfortably. "I'll just come back later."

"No! Nora, I'm paying."

Nora nodded and left the table. Blake glared at Yang as she put her wallet back into her bag.

“What can I say,” Yang shrugged. “I’m trying to make up for what Ruby did.”

Nora brought back the check and handed it to Yang who signed it off and gave Nora her credit card to swipe. Blake silently sipped at her malt as Yang and Nora conversed a bit. After a while, Yang finally finished her shake. Blake collected her things and she and Yang started to head for the door. Ren glanced at Yang as she passed.

“Word of this stays only between us,” she hissed at him.

Ren shrugged and Nora giggled and wiggled her fingers from the other side of the bar. Yang found Blake already outside by her car. She unlocked the doors and they spent the ride back to Blake’s apartment chatting about their college days. Yang pulled into the parking lot of Blake’s place and was about to get out of her car.

“No, no. You don't have to get out.” Blake was already leaving her seat with the door held open. “I think I can manage going up the stairs by myself.”

“Oh...Alright. I guess I’ll see you on Monday?”

“Yeah. And we should go out to lunch again sometime soon. It was...nice.”

Yang felt her face get hot and silently thanked anything that would listen for not letting Blake see her flush. Blake got to the foot of the stairs and turned around and waved to Yang before heading up. Yang waved back and sat in the parking lot for a few minutes before settling down enough to get onto the road. She just couldn't understand why Blake made her feel so flustered every time she called them friends or whatever. Yang decided, at the traffic light a block away from her own apartment, that she would not give any specific details about her lunch with Blake to Ruby.


	6. Chapter 6

Doctor Oobleck sipped at his mug of coffee as Detective Xiao Long and her partner -whom Goodwitch had alerted him to- walked through the morgue's front door. The two were discussing something as they walked towards him. Oobleck stood by Tukson Kovach's covered body and waited for them to finish their conversation. He only picked up the end of the conversation.

"I told you yesterday, lunch was on me. Paying for you wasn't a problem."

"But if I was willing to pay, you should have let me."

"It was my way of saying- you know what? Nevermind. We'll continue this later." Yang turned to Oobleck and smiled at him good naturedly. "Xiao Long and Belladonna here for Tukson Kovach's report."

"Yes I've been waiting for you." He downed the last of the coffee in his mug then set it aside on his workbench. "Well this is Kovach here," he pulled the cloth down to the corpse's waist. "As I said in my report, this man was a thirty three year old man, in relatively good health with no apparent heart, stomach, or liver conditions. However, the contents of his stomach worried me."

"How so, sir?" Blake looked up from the scribbles on her notepad.

"Well, at first glance, there were some coffee dregs, some cereal, and a banana and nothing unusual. But when I checked his mouth, I found some traces of a cocaine I've never seen before."

"What exactly does that mean?"

"It means, Miss Xiao Long, that cocaine was in his system -undoubtedly. However, the cocaine itself was different in nature than other types or "brands" of cocaine." He pried open Kovach's mouth with a scalpel. "Cocaine is typically injected or inhaled through the nose. It is not common for it to be ingested through the mouth. However, his mouth, esophagus, and stomach are covered with traces of it, as if it were in his food."

Yang and Blake shot each other a brief look between note taking. Yang shrugged.

"And you think he was poisoned?" Blake nodded towards the corpse.

"Yes. I have determined that it was the cocaine in his food that killed him. He died at roughly 7:43 in the morning, perhaps five minutes after ingesting the food laced with cocaine."

"Blake, we've got to get back to Kovach's apartment and check to see if there was anything we missed. I'll also make some calls to help speed up the processing of the evidence collected." Yang turned back to Oobleck and grinned. "Thank you for your time, sir."

"No problem detective." Oobleck grabbed a coffee mug from the clutter on his desk. "Just remember that this cocaine is different from ordinary cocaine. I'll be sending a sample to the forensic labs to analyze it."

"Thank you again sir. I'll check up with them in a couple of days."

Yang and Blake headed out of the morgue. They got into Yang's car and she drove over to Kovach's apartment on the other side of town. It was still pretty early in the morning so the drive wasn't too bad; they pulled into the apartment parking lot twenty minutes after leaving the morgue. Kovach's death had caused a bit of a stir-up in the building so many of his neighbors were standing in the foyer when Yang and Blake walked in. They immediately swarmed around Yang.

"You're one of the cops investigating Tukson's death right?"

"What can you tell us about the case?"

"Was it murder?"

"Everyone calm down!" Yang called out to the crowd. Their voices lowered to a low mumble. "Now I'm here with my partner to investigate Kovach's apartment. If any of you have any information, please come forward. If not, please clear the way."

The two older men at the front of the group glanced at each other before stepping aside. Slowly the rest of the crowd parted and Yang led the way down the hall to Kovach's room. She pulled out the skeleton key the apartment owner provided her two weeks ago when the case broke and unlocked the door. She held it open for Blake then shut it behind them.

The apartment looked cleaner than it had two weeks ago when Tukson had been found. Chairs had been moved, floors mopped, and the books and magazines had been put away. The blue body tape was still on the floor. Blake headed into the bedroom to poke around.

Yang went off to the office room Kovach had set up. The laptop that belonged to Kovach was still impounded and not on his desk like the last time Yang was there. Papers still littered the desktop and poked out of the cabinets. Yang glanced at a few of them; they were mostly all printed credit score reports and budget balance sheets.

Upon closer inspection on one sheet, She did notice that a few months ago, Kovach spent more than he made but didn't have any negatives on his credit report for that month. Yang folded up the papers and placed them in a plastic baggie.

As she was going through the contents of the desk drawers, Yang heard a loud thump from the other side of the wall.

"Yang! You might want to come over here." 

Yang put down the paper she was holding and headed next door to the bedroom. Blake was hunched over the empty bed frame shoved against the opposite wall. Yang strode up next to Blake.

"What's up?"

"Well, I was trying to inspect something on the wall but my phone slipped out of my pocket and fell. But it fell onto the bed frame and made a hollow sound."

Yang gave Blake a curious look. Blake pulled her phone out and held it over the frame. She dropped it and it bounced off the frame with a thump. She picked her phone from the floor.

"I see what you mean. That did sound pretty weird." Yang crouched down and out her ear to the frame. She knocked on it three times. "Yeah it definitely sounds hollow."

Blake crouched down next to her and smoothed her fingers across the wood. Yang fished around her bag for a pencil.

"There's a small crack that we could probably force open."

"I'm already on it," Yang grinned.

Blake shuffled aside and Yang jammed the point of her pencil into the crack. She wiggled it around a bit before the piece of wood gave and popped out. Yang and Blake stared at the interior for a moment. Blake glanced at her partner before reaching for the hole. She pulled a small black box from the cavity.

“It’s a...hard drive?”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The duo was standing in the police department tech lab with the hard drive in hand. Yang tapped her foot impatiently as the tech guy who never seemed to ever be doing any work, was flirting with Blake.

“Sun! Could we please get on with the show?”

Sun grinned and winked at Blake -who rolled her eyes Yang noticed- and jumped into his chair and rolled to his desk. He held out a hand while he logged in. Yang handed over the hard drive. Sun took a quick glance at it before plugging it into his computer.

“Well, by the looks of it, it’s an external hard drive. A couple of years old. Standard model. But I’ll tell you more when I crack it open.” Sun cracked his knuckles and accessed the drive’s data.

“Huh, that’s strange…”

“What is?” Blake stepped up to his left side to look at his screen.

“Well, for something hidden like it was, this hard drive wasn’t heavily encrypted. And it doesn't seem like it has a lot on it.”

“What is on it then?” Yang stepped up to his right side.

“Okay, okay ladies I know I’m great and all but I’d appreciate a little more space.”

Yang took a slight step back. Blake didn’t move an inch. Sun sighed and pulled up the files. He scrolled through their names and basic information.

“Most of these files are a couple of weeks old. A few of the older ones are a few months old but that’s about it. And about three of them are videos.” Sun grinned over his shoulder at Blake. “Wanna watch them with me?”

Blake shrugged and Sun clicked the first video. The video started off with a few seconds of darkness before some light was cast and a bedroom and bed could be seen. Sun’s face lost its color as the video played on. Yang took a little step closer and immediately regretted it.

“Oh boy…” Yang muttered.

“Okay so kid porn… No wonder this sicko had this hidden in his bed frame.” Blake curled her nose up at the screen and muted the video.

“But what’s funny about this,” Sun shook his head clear. “Is that this video is nearly identical to the one found in Ironwood’s computer a few weeks ago.” He chuckled nervously. “Funny right?”

“What?” Yang started.

“Yeah, I worked the data retrieval for the Ironwood case and found kid porn videos on his hard drive. One of them was identical to this one. Want me to pull it up for you?”

“No, we’ll pass, thanks.” Blake said. “What a strange coincidence.”

“Do you think we should tell Ozpin and Goodwitch about this?”

“Goodbitch?” Sun scoffed. “You can count me out if you're going to go to her. I’ll just stay here and continue analyzing this hard drive.”

“Thanks Sun. You’ve been a huge help as always,” Yang patted his shoulder.

“It’s what I’m paid for,” he shrugged with a sly grin.

He winked at Blake again as she left behind Yang. Sun sighed then turned back to the hard drive. He had some work to do.


	7. Chapter 7

Yang tapped her foot as she waited for Oobleck to finish running around. He mumbled things as he rushed around the morgue but Yang didn't even bother trying to catch what he was saying. Her notepad was lying open on a corner of one of the empty examining tables with a pen.

"So Miss Xiao Long, how is the investigation going?" Oobleck called from somewhere in one of the storage rooms in the back. He huffed towards Yang while carrying a box labeled with a serial number. He dropped it on the table with a bang.

"Oh," Yang said, breaking out of her daze. "It's going smoothly." Yang warily eyed the plastic box Oobleck pushed onto her table. "We only have three suspects so far but my partner and I have found some evidence that might give us a lead."

"Is it related to the traces of cocaine I found in Mr. Kovach's system?" Oobleck dug feverishly through his pile of empty coffee cups and mugs.

"We haven't determined that yet. But I was hoping you could tell me more about the cocaine's significant properties." Yang saw Oobleck nodding at the corner of her vision.

"I'd be happy to show you the analysis the forensics lab did for me. You'll have to wait a few moments though. I can't seem to find my favorite coffee mug..." He rifled through cluttered drawers and cabinets. "What about your partner? The private eye?"

"My partner is with one of our tech guys right now to determine the significance of the evidence we found at the crime scene."

\----------------------------------------------------  
"So Blake..."

Blake rolled her eyes. The tech guy had done nothing but flirt with her since she walked in. He was extremely persistent.

"How would you feel about going to lunch with me today?"

"No."

"Aw come on. Please?" Sun swiveled his chair towards Blake and pouted at her. "Aren't we buddies?"

"No. Now please do your job."

Sun sighed and turned back towards his computer. He typed quickly while following the screen.

"...What exactly are you doing?"

"Curious are you?" Sun shot Blake a smirk over his shoulder. "The hard drive you and Yang brought in the other day had a file that was heavily encrypted. I've been trying to hack it..."

"No, I mean, why are you using that processor? It's extremely unreliable and not very powerful."

"Oh. Well," Sun glanced around them quickly before lowering his voice to a whisper. "To be honest, the department doesn't have a lot of money. So, they don't exactly pay very well. At least, they don't pay anyone as well as they pay police officers. They just don't have the extra funds to supply good equipment."

"You probably didn't have to whisper that," Blake responded.

Sun sighed and leaned away from Blake, almost lounging in his chair.

"Well, I'll make due with what I've got. I'll get those results to you as soon as I run the file through some more filters."

\----------------------------------------------------  
"When Kovach's body was brought in, I did a standard exam for time of death, cause of death, etc."

Yang nodded. As an after thought, she picked up her notepad and pen. Oobleck sipped at his fresh coffee.

"As I told you before, traces of cocaine lined his mouth and stomach. I also found that cocaine could also be found in the esophagus."

Oobleck pulled out a small plastic bag from the plastic box in front of him. He held it up to his eye.

"I managed to extract a sample of the cocaine large enough to run through multiple tests. At first, the lab techs thought the chemical makeup of the cocaine was unique to this sample alone." Oobleck pulled out a second bag of white powder from the box. "But not long after they had finished their preliminary analysis of the cocaine in Kovach's body, I was sent a body from a drug related drive-by shooting."

Yang peered at the two bags.

"Cocaine?"

"Yes."

"Withe the same chemical make up?"

"Precisely. But not only did they have the same make up, They were created by the same label. Possibly shipped and smuggled by the same company as well."

"How did you find this out from a sample of cocaine?!"

"That, Miss Xiao Long, is simply because the man I got the second sample off of was identified as a smuggler for the Schnee Shipping Company."

\-------------------------------------------------------  
"Hey Blake?"

"Sun," Blake mumbled from behind a book Sun never saw her pull out, "for the last time, I don't want to 'grab a bite' with you."

"That's not it." Sun swiveled his chair around to face her. He shrugged. "Well, it is. But not at this moment it isn't!" He held his hands up as if asking for silence and paused for dramatic effect. "I got through the file."

Blake wordlessly put her book down and pulled her chair up to the desk. Sun ran a hand through his blond hair before turning back around.

"Aw I was hoping for a more excited reaction than that!"

Blake ignored him and reached over to take the mouse. She unplugged it from the computer and plugged it back in on her side of the monitor. Sun sighed and shook his head but let Blake maneuver through the system. She brought up the successfully decoded file and clicked it open.

Four files appeared. The first read Stage One. It was the one most recently opened so Blake clicked on that one. As the word document loaded, Sun glanced between Blake and the computer screen quickly.

"What are you looking for, exactly?"

"Anything that would connect Kovach to Ironwood. Alright. Here it is."

Blake and Sun sat in silence while they read the document with Kovach Tukson's instructions. Sun's eyes grew wider with every line.

As soon as he reached the bottom of the page, Sun pulled away from the desk and ran his hands through his hair. Blake continued to stare at the screen, reading and rereading the instructions.

"So it was the same video after all..." Sun mumbled.

"Sun."

Blake motioned for the tech guy to return to the computer. He rolled back towards her. She had exited the word document and was pointing at the document labeled Stage Two.

"We have to finish this job before thinking of the possibilities and outcomes."

Sun nodded and Blake opened the document. Her eyes skimmed the page until they settled on the important player of phase two.

"They were going to set him up..."

"Yeah. And with the Schnee Dust Company of all people," Blake murmured as she grabbed her phone to call Yang. She motioned to Sun that she was going to walk out.

"That's cool. I'll stay here and go through the other files. If you gave me your number, I could let you know if I find anything interesting."

Blake rolled her eyes and grabbed her book and shoved it in her bag, forgotten on the floor. The phone had rung three times before Yang picked up.

"Blake! Oh wow I was just about to call you! I've got great news!"

"So do I," Blake sites the building and walked over to a tree to stand in the shade.

"Really? Wow! Well it'd probably be better if we discussed this in person. So...how about White Castle diner?"

"Sounds good. Met you there in twenty? And I'm paying this time."

"Alright! Twenty minutes it is! See ya!"

Blake sighed and smiled as she put her phone away in her pocket.

\----------------------------------------------------  
Yang was visibly jumpy when Blake walked into the diner. Nora hardly had to point towards Yang's booth before the blonde shouted for Blake to join her. Yang's energy radiated off of her and Blake felt herself getting more excited about her news as she neared the table. Barely the second Blake sat down, Yang jumped up and slammed her hands on the table.

"The Schnee Dust company," the pair exclaimed together.

Yang stared at Blake for a moment before turning a dark red and sitting down. Blake ignored the sensation of people watching her as she grinned at the police detective.

"Would you like to explain first?"

"Oh, uh...yeah. Sure." Yang took a long sip of water then cleared her throat. "Well, Oobleck had the cocaine found in Kovach's body analyzed and compared it to cocaine found on a drug dealers body and they matched. Since we know that the dealer's body was that of a Schnee employee, the cocaine is specifically Schnee Dust!"

"Impressive."

"Here ya go!" Nora placed two plates of food and a glass of tea onto the table with extra napkins. "Nice to see you again Blake!"

"Uh, thanks Nora, but I haven't ordered anything..."

"Thank Yang for that!" Nora leaned close to Blake and lowered her voice. "I'm pretty sure she's memorized your usual order by now." Nora giggled and flounced her way back to the kitchen window, pestering Ren along the way.

"So uh," Yang said through a mouthful of food. "How'd you and Wukong get to Schnee Dust?"

"We got the file on the hard drive decrypted and one of the documents in that file specifically mentioned the Schnee Corp. having a major role in the second phase to the hit on Ironwood."

"Wait, what? So Kovach was involved with the Ironwood scandal?"

"Yes." Blake nodded as she took a sip of the tea. "And the porn videos were only phase one. Kovach was then supposed to send the hard drive and all its contents to the next recipient. In addition, there were twelve parts to phase one on the document. The first attack was Kovach and the videos. The others never occurred- that we know of."

"Woah. You seriously got the better end of the bargain here."

"Oh please. I was stuck with Mr 'I'm blond and pretty' for hours."

"I had to wait around for Oobleck to quit rushing around searching for his next fix of caffeine for hours too!"

"Fine, then next time, you get Sun and I'll get Oobleck."

"That's a deal!"

The two fell into silence for a moment as they abandoned their playful banter to think about their new lead. The remainder of their lunch was spent in relative silence. After they had finished eating, Yang ordered them both specialty shakes that Blake refused to let her pay for. They argued about that briefly before settling to alternate paying the bill every time they ate there.

It wasn't until they had left the diner and were standing outside in the bitter wind that they spoke of the case again.

"Yang... what should we do? It's not exactly like we could call up a Schnee corporate member to ask them some police business questions."

"Yeah. I've got a lot of contacts but a Schnee Dust big-wig ain't one."

Yang unlocked the doors of her police cruiser and the two of them climbed in.

"I can't believe we know who to contact..."

"But not how to contact them." Yang put the key in the ignition and started up her cruiser. "Yeah, this'll be a tough one."


	8. Chapter 8

It had been almost a week since Yang and Blake made their parallel breakthroughs in the Kovach case. They had tried all of their contacts and inside people to see if any of them knew a way to get to the Schnee Dust Company, but with no luck. Due to the overlapping evidence, Ozpin decided to open the Ironwood investigation up to Yang. She dug around but hadn't found anything important. The lead investigator for Ironwood's case didn't know that the Schnee Company was involved but didn't know much more than Yang did about how to contact the shipping company.

Yang sighed as she stirred a giant pot of soup. Ruby had asked for hot soup for when she got home from class and Yang was happy to oblige. Hot soup always made her feel better when she was working on a difficult case. Yang absently stirred the soup while mentally going through her case notes and what she knew about the two cases.

The door slammed and jolted her out out of space.

"Ruby! Welcome home! How was class?"

"Hey Yang." Ruby tossed her stuff on the floor and flopped onto the couch. Zwei jumped up next to her.

"That bad, huh?" Yang left the soup to simmer and walked over to Ruby. She ruffled her sisters hair. "I'm making soup."

"Tomato Tortellini?"

"Of course."

"Yay!"

"I've just gotta throw in some hot sauce before we can eat it."

“Sure thing! Let me just go change before I complain about my day at school.”

“I didn't ask, shortstack!” Yang shouted over her shoulder. 

She grinned when she heard Ruby huff. The door to Ruby’s room closed and Zwei shot up from the couch. He raced over to his empty bowl and pouted at Yang. She laughed.

“Oh alright. I’ll feed you.” She placed the ladle next to the stove and opened up the pantry. She opened up the dog food bag and poured a cup into the tin bowl “Chow time.”

“Yaaaaaaang you’ll never believe what happened in class today!”

“Hm,” Yang pretended to be lost in thought as she stirred the soup. “Alright. Try me.”

“Okay well, there's this really quiet rich, looking girl in my law class that I've never actually heard speak.”

“Alright,” Yang picked up the bottle of hot sauce and started to shake some into the pot.

“Well today we were split into pairs for a project and she said her name is Weiss Schnee and wow she’s really cool Yang I hope I can be friends....Yang? Don’t you think thats enough hot sauce?”

Yang stared at Ruby in disbelief for a moment before snapping back to awareness. She set the hot sauce down to the side and turned to face Ruby.

“Schnee? As in, the Schnee shipping company?”

“Oh, uh yeah I guess.” Ruby shrugged. “She asked me not to make a big deal about it and that kinda confused me but I didn't think too much about it.”

“Ruby. The Schnee shipping company doubles as Chicago’s leading cocaine producer and distributor. They have their own label and everything.”

Ruby stared at Yang blankly for a moment. Yang could see her sister processing the information. Her sister was just so trusting and naive.

“Oh my god! No wonder the professor called her outside the first day of class! No wonder she didn't introduce herself the first day! It all makes sense now!”

“Do you think I could have a chat with her? She might be the lead I’ve been looking for!”

“I don't know Yang… She asked me to not make a big deal about it.”

“Please Ruby? I don’t want to pull the official police business card but….”

“UGH fine. I’ll ask her to come over sometime this week so you two can talk.”

“Thanks Ruby! You’re the best!” Yang pulled her little sister into a bear hug. Ruby struggled to escape the suffocating grip.

“Let go of me Yang! Ah! I just want to eat my soup!”

\---------------------------------------------  
"So you’re Weiss, yes?”

“Hmph,” Weiss threw Ruby a nasty glare. Ruby averted her eyes and ducked into the kitchen to avoid the glare. Weiss turned back towards Yang. “Yes. That is correct.”

“How are you connected with the Schnee Shipping Company?”

“My father owns the company. I am in line to inherit all of it.”

Yang raised her eyebrows as she scribbled in her notepad.

“How much did -or does- your father tell you about the business?”

“If you mean do I know about the drug smuggling, then yes."

"Oh. Well then. Who is in charge of the drug creation?"

"I don't know. They only ever contact my father when they need to ship something. And only by phone."

"I see. Do you know where the main site is?"

"Oak Park, Illinois."

"Who's in charge there?"

"A man named Roderigo. I don't know his last name but he's about 5'9 and 175 pounds."

"Anything else?"

"Well he has curly brown hair and a thick mustache. He also has a tattoo of some letters or something on his hands."

Yang raised her eyebrows at she wrote down the information.

"What about the distributing? Who's in charge of that?"

"My father is."

"I see. Now Weiss...Why exactly did you enroll in the police academy? I mean -this is totally off the record by the way- your dad is a drug criminal. Why run the risk?"

"Unless I'm mistaken, my father has not been convicted of any illegal activity as of yet."

"Well with this information I could arrest you both along with the other employees."

Weiss glared at Ruby watching from the back room.

"You dunce, this is why I told you not to say anything." She sighed and shook her head. "I enrolled because I don't agree with what my father is doing. I told him I was going to study criminal justice so I could help throw the police off his trail. But what I really want is to stop him.”

"I see. Okay Weiss, one last question. Do you know anything about your father's involvement in the Ironwood case?"

Yang could feel Ruby's questioning look burning into her back but she ignored it and focused on Weiss. 

"Well..." Weiss leaned in closer to Yang and lowered her voice. "A couple of weeks ago, I overheard him talking on the phone. I assume he was talking to the person in charge of everything because I've only seen that line used when my father is talking to them. They planned for a shipment of cocaine to be shipped to Ironwood's residence. But that's all I know about that."

"Do you have anything else to tell me? The information will be totally anonymous."

"Well..." Weiss glanced down at one of Yang's case files. She tapped at one of the pages on top. "Not to long ago, my father received orders to send a small bag of cocaine to this address. I overheard him say, 'And someone will be there to pick it up?'"

Yang looked down at the paper; her eyes widened when she saw the information Weiss was pointing at. Weiss continued to talk.

"It was odd that he had to clarify that someone would pick up the shipment. He always had one of his employees on site for pick-up. Also, when I checked the shipment records later, that address wasn't on the list."

"Thank you for everything, Weiss." Yang started to get up from her chair and placed her notebook on the pile of paperwork on the table. "I assure you that your identity will be protected."

Yang’s phone buzzed with a text message. She looked at it and laughed. 

"Ruby wants me to tell you that our doors are open if you ever need a place to stay."

Weiss scoffed.

"Well thank you but I don't think that will be necessary." She stood and shook Yang's hand. "I should be going now."

Ruby rushed out from behind the kitchen counter and left the apartment with Weiss, talking about getting lunch sometime. Yang closed the door behind them and immediately called Blake. On the third ring, The PI picked up.

"Hello Yang. What do you need?"

"Well I was wondering if you were busy right now."

"No, not particularly. Why?"

"What to meet at the diner for lunch? I'd like to discuss some information I discovered."

"Oh alright. I can be there in twenty minutes."

"That's perfect."

"May I ask what this is about?"

"Tukson. I think he may have been murdered by the Schnee Dust Company."


	9. Chapter 9

"So how did your interview with the Schnee kid go?"

Blake took a long sip of her iced tea as she raised her eyebrows at Yang.

"She was the best damn informant I've ever had the pleasure of interviewing. She had a total understanding of how the company works and gave me more information than I could have asked for!"

"Alright," Blake laughed. "Care to share?"

"Well first things first, the head of the shipping company isn't the one in charge of the drug creation; he just ships it. The creator has him pick up the cocaine from various local plants and ships it wherever they need it to go."

"Go on."

"Second -and possibly more importantly- a shipment of cocaine was sent to Tukson Kovach's house around the time that he died!"

"What?"

"Yeah! My informant said that she overheard her father getting the address to ship the cocaine to."

"But how does that tie in with Kovach's death? He could have just been a drug addict as well as a hacker."

"Schnee said- Oh thanks Nora!"

Blake's head shot up to see Nora sliding two plates onto their table along with a fresh bottle of ketchup.

"No problem Yang! Enjoy your lunch you two!" She said with a laugh.

Nora bounded off to greet the customers that just walked through the door. Yang poked at her fries with a fork. Yang lowered her voice to a whisper, forcing Blake to move closer.

"Schnee said that she later checked the shipping logs but couldn't find that address anywhere." Yang popped a fry into her mouth and chewed for a moment. "That doesn't sound like regular shipping procedure -dust or otherwise."

"True...But you think a Schnee employee murdered him? I just don't see the connection."

"There was somebody waiting there to pick up the cocaine at Kovach's apartment. Schnee doesn't know who was there though. But Kovach ended up dead with Schnee Dust Company brand cocaine lining his esophagus and mouth."

"So the cocaine was what killed him?"

"Maybe. But maybe the cocaine was masking the effects of some other poison. I don't know Blake, but I've got a strong feeling that whoever was there to pick up the cocaine was the one that killed Kovach."

"Alright I believe you." Blake took a bite out of her sandwich. "Could I see your notes from the interview?"

"Oh yeah of course!"

Yang puller her notebook from her bag and handed it over the table. Blake opened it and flipped to the newest page. She scanned over the information.

"You did a good job with summarizing all this."

"It comes with the job."

"This man -Roderigo- do you think we can interrogate him?"

"For information on the creator? I can't guarantee he'll talk but it's definitely worth a shot."

"The only issue is that the plant is in Oak Park..."

"That wouldn't be a problem. We could just drive down there."

"Isn't it in a different district?"

"I'll just call the director of the police department over there for permission to investigate. Come on Blake, please? Let's have a road trip!"

"It's a twenty minute drive," Blake smiled through her skeptical tone.

"We'll have to go a few days from now so I have time to work it all out but please Blake? Its for the case."

Blake sighed and rolled her eyes at Yang's begging. She grinned and shook her head.

"Fine. But you're treating us to lunch."

"Deal!"

\------------------------------------------------------

It was almost twelve o'clock and Blake and Yang were sitting in a stuffy police interrogation room with no airflow. The man the Oak Park Police Department identified as Roderigo sat at the metal table behind the one way glass. He looked relaxed and confident even after twenty minutes of isolation. Blake flipped through a book as she waited but Yang was fidgeting with impatience.

"Ugh the Oak Park Police are so slow!"

"It's only been twenty minutes, Yang."

"It doesn't matter!" She took a deep breath and sighed. "Alright fine, I'm being impatient. But this is seriously important."

"Yes but you of all people should know that this is only procedure. Someone will be in there any minute now."

"I'd much rather it be me interrogating him."

"That would throw him off. He knows these officers. We would been seen as threats because he's never met us before."

"Doesn't that mean he won't talk to them?"

"They may have something up their sleeve to entice him to talk." Blake nodded her head towards the window where two Oak Park officers just entered the room with Roderigo. "I suppose we'll find out now.

Blake put her book back into her bag as Yang scooted to the edge of her seat. The two officers inside the room faced Roderigo.

"Roderigo, huh? It's been a while man. Have you been keeping your nose clean?"

The man sneered at the officers.

"Of course, Nep. Clean as a whistle."

"That's Mr. Vasilias to you."

"Anyway Rod," Neptune's partner continued. "You and I both know you're in here for drug possession."

"Alleged drug possession. You can't prove a thing."

"We don't need to, thanks to a helpful little informant of ours."

"You're lying!"

"Believe that if you want to. But I'm willing to make a deal with you. You answer a few of our questions and we'll let you off with a lighter sentence."

"Hmm sounds tempting." Rod stroked his chin in mock thought. "But I think I'll have to pass."

"If you don't accept the deal, you'll be in prison for possibly the next thirty years."

"So?"

"What about your family Roderigo? Didn't your girl just have a kid? What about them?"

"She'd understand."

Neptune and his partner glanced at each other. Neptune nodded once and his partner pulled a Manila folder from the counter behind him. He tossed it into the table in front of Roderigo and it fell with a slap. Rod narrowed his eyes at it.

"What is this?"

"Your file."

"...Of?"

"Arrests, complaints, inspections- everything we know about you."

"Ha! I doubt that."

Roderigo laughed and shoved the folder away from him. Neptune smiled.

"Everything. Including your involvement in the sweep of '89."

Roderigo's face went pale. He licked his lips and fidgeting in his seat.

"'89? As in 1989?"

"The very same."

"And all the information is in this folder?"

"Ready to be used against you in a court of law."

Roderigo paused and pulled the folder towards him. With a shaky hand, he flipped through the paperwork. He stopped at a yellow page and wiped the sweat beads on his forehead. He looked up at the officers in front of him.

"What was that deal you offered again?"

\------------------------------------------------------

"See you tomorrow Yang."

"Bye Ren! Say hi to Nora for me!"

Yang's partner sighed and slung his bag over his shoulder. He nodded to Blake before turning towards the elevator. It arrived in their floor with a ding. Blake looked back down to her book.

"Hey Blake, you know you don't have to stay here. I'm just typing up our notes from these past couple of days..

"I know. I don't mind though."

"...You need a ride home, don't you."

"Was that a statement or a question?"

Yang pushed her chair away from her desk and sighed. She shook her head at the private eye.

"Blake please just call someone and go home; I'll be fine here all by myself. I'm a big girl."

"Hm fine then." Blake tucked her book into her bag and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She started towards the elevator.

"Bye Blake! See you tomorrow!"

"See you later Yang."

Blake dialed a number and was waiting for an answer as she stepped onto the elevator. She turned to wave at Yang as the doors closed.

Yang smiled and pulled herself back to her desk to continue typing. The sound of the keyboard keys was the only sound Yang heard on the floor.

After about twenty minutes of silence, Yang heard the elevator gears whirring. She ignored the sound and focused on her notes. The bell dinged on her floor. She glanced up but the doors had not opened yet so she looked back down. Footsteps and a warm smell stopped in front of her.

"How could I help you this evening?" Yang looked up and started at the sight of Blake holding a box of pizza.

"I was hoping we could share a pizza."

"Blake! I thought I told you to go home!"

"Yes but you're my ride and I wanted to treat you to pizza."

"Ugh Blake you didn't have to."

"I know I didn't. Here."

Blake placed the pizza box on the edge of Yang's desk that wasn't buried in paperwork. She pulled up a chair from the next desk over and put her bag on the floor. She motioned for Yang to take a slice of pizza. Yang sighed and stopped typing.

“Fine!”

She pulled the pizza box towards her and lift the lid.

“Half of this is your favorite topping…”

“And the other half is your favorite.”

“Heh. Thanks Blake”

Yang grinned and pulled a cheesy slice from her side of the box. She placed it on a paper napkin Blake had brought up and leaned back in her chair as she ate.

“You think we can eat all of this?”

“I’ve seen you eat at the diner. We’ll have no problem.”

“Wow rude, Blake.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> notes at the beginning so everyone knows that im a piece of shit! o/ yeah... sorry about that long ass hiatus. i had started writing chapter ten...but then i just didnt finish. soo here we are. MONTHS later. i hope i can deliver ;-; over break i finished ten, wrote all of eleven, edited the fuck out of previous chapters, and started twelve (all in like, three days) so ill post both ten and maybe eleven today. ive also reposted all the others with my revisions. but twelve isnt quite done yet so that will maybe be next weekend. i have plans for this story and i dont want to drop it. again, sorry!!

Yang woke up to What's new pussycat blasting loudly on her dresser. She rubbed her eyes as she sat up. Sunlight filtered through the drawn curtains and Yang stretched to unplug her phone from the wall.

"Hey Blake. What time is it?"

"Yang. I may have found something."

Yang lowered her phone to look at the time. She squinted at the bright numbers before huffing.

"Blake, it's eleven thirty on a Saturday. I'm off duty."

"It has to do with Kovach and the possibility of a break in."

Yang threw off the covers in excitement.

"Oh! Tell me then!"

"I was going through my old case notes and I stumbled on something I took note of from the morning Kovach was found dead."

Yang put the phone on the dresser and turned the speaker on. She rifled through her closet for a clean T-Shirt and jeans.

"One of the windows in Kovach's apartment was open when we were there. Normally that would mean nothing but it just seems off to me."

"You think someone got into the apartment through the window?"

"Yes, possibly. We'd have to check for signs of forced entry though."

"Well, I'm free today."

Yang grabbed her phone and turned the speaker off. She walked out of her room into the living room. Ruby glanced up from her spot in the couch and mouthed to say hi to Blake. Yang rolled her eyes.

"I can be over to pick you up in twenty." Yang took her keys from the kitchen counter. "Ruby says hi by the way."

"Tell her I say hello."

"She says hi," Yang called to Ruby. She heard a muffled yes from behind her.

"We can grab lunch while we're out," Yang opened the front door and waved to Ruby. "But after the sweep."

"Of course."

"Alight Blake. I'll be there in a few."

"Good bye."

Yang shoved her phone in her pocket and made her way down the apartment stairs.

\-----------------------------------------------------

"It's kind of a long shot seeing as how it's been a few weeks since Kovach died but..."

"It might prove to be important."

Yang pulled her cruiser into a parking spot close to Kovach's apartment building. The building manager shuffled towards them as they got out. As soon as she saw him, Yang deeply regretted returning the skeleton key the week before.

"Officer, it's such a pleasure to see you again."

"Oh don't kiss up. You and I both know you're under investigation for safety hazards."

The man flinched before squaring his shoulders.

"I assure you those are slanderous lies."

"Look, I don't really care if they are or aren't. That's not what I'm here for."

"Ah. Right." He jingled a ring of keys. "Right this way then."

Blake motioned for Yang to go first and the two of them followed the man into the building and back to Kovach's old apartment. The manager unlocked the door.

"As I told you on the phone, you probably won't find anything of use inside. Kovach's mother and sister cleared out his belongings weeks ago."

"Thanks for the tip."

Yang stepped around the manager and entered the apartment. Blake followed.

The main room was barren. All that remained were the appliances and the apartment fixtures. A layer of dust coated nearly every surface.

"I hope you aren't allergic to dust."

Blake scoffed and grinned at Yang before moving towards the back window. She pulled on a latex glove before lifting the latch and opening the window. She pointed at the window sill.

"Look there. It's faint but there are scratch marks on the outside."

Yang leaned in close to inspect the window sill before looking out behind it. A tall wall of bushes lined the back wall. Bottles and cigarette butts littered the ground. Yang turned around.

"Hey Lopez," She called out to the manager. "How do you get to this back alley?"

"There's an opening to the side of the building. A few of the residents wanted to start a garden back there but now a days only teenagers go back there to smoke and drink."

"I see. Last question, before we go outside, did you see anyone suspicious in the area around the time of Kovach's death?"

"Well, this alley gets all sorts of shady characters." He shrugged and fidgeted with his shirt hem. "Sometimes I see them and sometimes I don't. I couldn't tell you."

"Thank you." Yang slipped her notebook into her bag. "Now could you show us to the entrance to the back?"

"Of course. Follow me."

Yang and Blake shot a glance at each other and Blake nodded. Yang turned to follow Lopez out into the hall. 

\-------------------------------------------------------

The small area behind the building was filthy. The brick path was grimy and discolored from the dirt and littered with dead leaves, cigarette butts, and empty glass bottles. Yang wrinkled her nose at the heavy stench of nicotine that seemed to permeate the air. Lopez shook his head sadly. 

"I've tried, in the past, to keep this area decent but there never seems to be an end to the liquor that waters these weeds."

Yang surveyed the ground before looking up to Kovach's open window where Blake was watching. She offered the PI the evidence kit she had stashed in her cruiser through the window. Blake set about to peel some of the paint from the window sill and Yang turned to pull on her own pair of gloves.

She didn't really expect to find anything seeing as how it had been a little more than a month since Kovach's death. But she rifled through the weeds beneath Kovach's window anyway. She didn't look up until someone's shadow fell across her.

"I'm sorry but this area is closed to the public." Yang showed her badge to the two kids staring at her. "Official police business."

"Oh I am so deeply sorry ma'am," the green haired girl said. "We were just here to do some cleanup."

"We've been trying to help the old man clear up this area as community service but it never gets better," the taller boy explained, his silver hair catching the sun. 

"I see. Well you can wait in the front until I'm done. Then you can tackle this mess."

The pair smiled at Yang before turning to leave, glancing at Blake in the window as they passed. Blake ignored them.

"Hey Yang, check the bushes on the other side of the path. Something might be there."

"Sure Blake but you and I both know this whole thing was a long shot."

"The window was open though. You saw the scrape marks."

"That could be anything, Blake."

Yang wiped at her brow before digging at the soil again. She reached towards the fence and her fingers hit metal just buried under the dirt.

"Yang, you know as well as I do that these scrapes were made deliberately."

Yang just grinned as she turned around, dirty crowbar tight in her fist.

\-------------------------------------------------------

Emerald popped her bubble gum loudly because she knew it would annoy him. She smirked and brushed her green hair behind her shoulder when she saw him grimace.

"Mercury and I went to retrieve the crowbar we left but some cops were snooping around. I knew we should have gone back for it sooner."

"We shouldn't have left it at all."

"Shut up Mercury. I'm reporting in," she glared at her partner. "Anyway, they won't get much from it; we wore gloves."

"That crowbar carries more than just your fingerprints. It proves his house was broken into. And I'll wager it has traces of Dust on it too."

Emerald glared at the man but he ignored her. Roman Torchwick had no patience for someone else's dogs.

"Mercury here was right, gumdrop. You shouldn't have left it in the first place."

Torchwick strolled past the duo and twirled his cane through the air. He stopped to glance down at his men training below.

"Remember to tell her about these two cops. And since they're going to get that much closer after your little blunder with the crowbar, I'll tell Adam about them too. Maybe he'll find a way to hinder their investigation."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was feeling generous

Two weeks had passed since Yang and Blake's third investigation of Kovach's apartment. The crowbar Yang had found in the dirt had tested positive for Dust and the paint flakes found on it matched that of Kovach's window sill. But since there was no DNA and no fingerprints, their investigation had gotten nowhere. Yang was forced to pick up another case while waiting for more information on Kovach and Ironwood to roll in.

She sat at the small table in her apartment looking over her notes from the new case- some boring break-in that would be next to impossible to solve anyway. The file for that case was thin and she only had a few pages of notes, a stark contrast to the piles of paperwork she had amassed for the Kovach/Ironwood case.

Ruby mumbled something from the couch but Yang couldn't really understand her sister over the noise of the television.

"What'd you say, little sister?"

"I said," Ruby sat up and lowered the volume on the program. "Kovach and Ironwood are pretty strongly connected, right?"

"Uh, yeah? Kovach is pretty much central to Ironwood. Ironwood wouldn't be in hot water right now if it weren't for Kovach."

"I thought so."

Yang narrowed her eyes.

"What are you getting at?"

"Nothing. Just, remember that first day we met Blake?"

"Yeah?" Yang shuffled her papers together and stuffed them into the folder. "It was like two months ago, what about it?"

"Well, I seem to recall making a deal with someone."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes!" Ruby jumped up from the couch and woke Zwei up from his nap on the floor. "You made a deal!"

"Ugh I know, Ruby. But I can't go out with anyone right now; I have too much stuff to do. Besides, don’t you have class today?"

"You always say that!" Ruby whined. "What about Blake? You two hang out a lot. And Weiss is giving me a ride! I think we’re friends now, even after you interrogated her."

"Business partners, Ruby," Yang rolled her eyes; her phone buzzed in her pocket. "Besides, we're friends."

She read the text and half shot out of her chair with excitement. Ruby laughed behind her. 

"That has to be Blake. You don't react to anyone else like that!"

Yang ignored her and rushed to change into something more appropriate than yellow pajama bottoms and a tank top.

\-------------------------------------------------------

"Hey Sun, thanks for the text. What exactly did you find?"

Sun shrugged and showed Yang and Blake the computer screen.

"I was looking through Kovach's laptop again when I noticed a new file."

"What do you mean a new file?" Blake gave Sun a curious look.

"Well, it just sort of...appeared." He brought up a file named Hidden Dance. "It says the file was created a few days ago but I can't figure out how. The computer's been in impound for months and no ones touched it for weeks." Sun leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "I just don't get it."

"What's on it, then?"

"That's another thing. I can't crack its code."

Blake frowned and moved the laptop closer to her. Sun didn't protest and pulled one of the processor wires as he turned to Yang.

"It's a really complicated algorithm. It keeps rewriting itself. Our processors can't keep up."

"This isn't the first time you've complained about your stuff, Wukong. But I can't help you. You'll want to take this to Goodwitch."

"That's not even remotely what I want to do."

"Sun."

Yang looked up at Blake while Sun spun his chair around. The PI was tapping at the keyboard, eyes scanning a screen full of coding.

"Could I take the laptop with me? I have a better processor at home."

"That is completely against police policy," Sun grinned at her. "But because it's you, I'll let it slide."

Blake rolled her eyes and exited the programming before unplugging the laptop from the processor. Sun shrugged and turned back to Yang.

"I love it when she ignores me," he said in a low voice.

"You have issues, Wukong."

Yang gathered her things with a chuckle and followed Blake out of the room.

\------------------------------------------------------

"I don't know how long it's going to take but you're welcome to come inside."

Blake unlocked her apartment door and opened it for her companion. Yang shrugged and checked her phone for the time.

"Well, today was my day off anyway. Plus, Ruby won't be done with her classes for a few hours. Sure. Why not?"

She stepped inside the apartment and Blake followed her in, closing the door behind her. Blake's apartment was smaller than Yang's; the detective could only see a single bedroom from where she was standing.

"Sorry about the mess," Blake said, patting down the cushions of her couch. "There's cat hair everywhere."

"Mess? You should see my apartment," Yang laughed.

"Well, please, make yourself comfortable. I set up in here anyway," Blake smiled before she disappeared into the back room.

Yang sat on the edge of Blake’s white couch, noting that yes, there was cat hair all over the cushions. She glanced around the empty room but only saw a bookshelf and a few picture frames on the wall, which she was pretty sure only held Blake’s diplomas.

"Blake, why exactly do you have a high level processor?" Yang called out into the silence.

Blake didn't respond until she reappeared in the main room, wires and laptop in hand. She plugged things in and settled down into an armchair across from Yang.

"I bought it while I was in college for the IT major. My uh, friend and I wanted to use it for our final project."

"What happened?"

"Half way through the project, I found him using the processor to build a business." She glanced up from the computer screens at Yang's questioning face. "The illegal kind."

"Ah," Yang nodded slowly. "Then what?"

Her question was met with the click of the keyboard and a soft purr from Blake's cat on her foot. Yang reached down and brought the black cat to sit on her lap. She stroked its head absently.

"We finished the project, I switched majors, and I never spoke to him again."

"Oh... I'm sorry?"

"Don’t be. He tried to get me to join his 'business' but I couldn't stand by and take part in his criminal actions. So I went for a major that would allow me to stop him."

"What was the business?"

"Hacking."

"Oh."

Yang scratched the cat behind its ears, watching as Blake struggled to work with the code.

"I kept the processor to try and stop the business from growing."

Yang glanced at Blake for a moment, trying to read her face but the other woman's face was blank. Yang stayed quiet. 

"I don't think it worked. Look."

Yang stood with a start, Blake's cat slinking off to sulk at being tossed off. She hurried around the coffee table to look over Blake's shoulder at the computer screen. Yang couldn't make sense of the wall of text.

"Look here," Blake pointed at a line of text.

"Okay. But what exactly am I looking at?"

"This specific line of code is different than the rest. It looks like..."

"Like what?"

"Like..." Blake typed something quickly and the screen changed. "It needs a password."

"Oh shit. How could we possibly find it out?"

"We don't need to." Blake typed in three words she never thought she'd use in that order again. "Wilt and Blush. He never did want to change his passwords."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is late bc i couldnt really write last week because of college move in and then when i sat down at nine thirty last saturday night, i had only written a page and a half... soo i spent the next couple of hours racking my brains for ways to PUT MY IDEAS ON PAPER but at midnight, i wasnt even done with what i wanted from the chapter. so i figured id push it back to the next saturday. (im very tired) ive also decided to try to update this story every two weeks! still on saturdays, just every other week. sorry!

"Blake," Yang took a step back from the armchair. "How could you possibly know the password?"

Blake shrugged and placed the laptop on the coffee table.

"It was my partner's old password. He used it for everything."

"But how the hell did you know to use it?"

"The coding. I thought it looked familiar. I thought I'd give it a try."

"Goddammit Blake!" Yang shook her head and sighed. "What did you unlock then?"

Blake leaned over and clicked at the now code free screen. She brought up a file named Black Base and scanned the titles of the documents.

"Hm...maybe he thinks Kovach is still alive," she pointed to a file titled Drop off. "This might have some information."

Yang muttered something behind her and Blake could hear the scratching of a pen on paper. Blake continued to click through the other documents before going back back to the file list.

"Damn! There's so much shit here though! There's no way we can sort through all this today."

"Well, at least we've gotten through the encryption. Other than time consumption, it shouldn't give us too many problems."

"Should we give the laptop back to Wukong? Or do you want to fiddle with it a while longer?"

"I'd like to check it out first..." Blake's eyes locked on a file names Shadow Dance. "There might be something that could lead us back to Adam."

"Who? Your friend?"

"Yeah. It's possible that he left clues in these files as to his location."

"I'm not so sure about that, Blake." Yang hugged her arms close to her even though the room wasn't very cold. "I have a lot of suspicions about this. Like, why would the encryption need his password? And how would Tuckson know it?" She shook her head. "It just doesn't make sense."

"Maybe Tuckson and Adam were close. I mean, Adam was giving him instructions."

"Supposedly."

"Supposedly giving him instructions." Blake sighed as she leaned back from the laptop and sunk into her armchair. "Why don't you go home, Yang? It's your day off anyway. We can look into this tomorrow."

Yang shifted her weight as she frowned. Finally she sighed.

"Alright." Her face suddenly broke into a grin. "But you're treating me to lunch!"

Blake smiled at that. She led Yang to the door and watched her blonde head retreat down the stairs. It wasn't until after she closed her apartment door behind her that her soft smile fell from her face. She knew Yang's grin had been fake; it was tight and Yang's eyes didn't have their mischievous sparkle to them.

Yang’s doubt over the legitimacy of the files worried Blake. She sometimes got used to Yang’s perceptiveness and forgot just how sharp her partner was. So Blake had lied about it and diverted the conversation. She grimaced down at her shoes as the memory of her deception replayed itself in her head. Why did she protect Adam?

Her cat twisted herself around Blake’s legs, purring and rubbing her face on Blake. Blake sighed and smiled down at her cat, lifting her from the ground. She stroked her cats’ long fur as she went to settle herself on her armchair. She tucked her cat beside her before reaching over to grab the laptop. She scanned through the documents under the file titled Drop off; there was a lot of information there, broken into steps and miniature operations. But the sheer number of documents masked the fact that the plan to wipe away evidence was not very long at all. Over half of the steps were unnecessary and could have been done with one sweep.

That was always one of Adam’s favorite things to do. Blake recalled that he used to entertain himself by finding the longest possible way to do something relatively simple. He thought he was a genius; Blake thought he was wasting time, It was sort of nice to know he hadn’t changed much in the last couple of years.

Blake brought herself back up to the file screen and looked at the file titled Shadow Dance. Something seemed off about it to her; it might have been just the title but Blake had a gut feeling that the file was important. She opened it, not quite sure what to expect. A single document appeared. It was untitled and showed the same creation date as all the other documents that were under Drop off. Blake switched back to the drop off file to confirm that the single document had the same date and noticed that they all read the same exact time.

Blake shot a worried look to her cat who just blinked at her. She went back to the file under Shadow Dance and opened it. The screen was filled with the almost blank document and Blake read the single line of text at the top of the page.

‘The pass-code you entered was correct.’

Blake rolled her eyes; she knew this. Why bother making such a redundant document in the first place? Adam had never done that before.

Blake huffed and went to scratch her cat behind the ears to distract herself from the blaring annoyance on the screen. Her elbow hit the track pad and she swore, her cat dashing off at the sudden movement. Blake wrenched her eyes open and immediately noticed that the mouse pointer had conveniently fallen on top of the scroll bar, revealing that the document on screen had thirteen pages. Blake quickly scrolled down to the next page.

The second page had a similar format to the first, a single line of text at the top of a blank page.

‘That means you are either,’

Blake scrolled farther down and read the new page.

‘an excellent hacker,’

‘a very good guesser,’

‘or the person I am looking for.’

‘Now I am going to give you an address.’

‘I will be there on the twenty seventh of this month at noon.’

A quick glance at the time and date on the laptop confirmed that the meeting would take place tomorrow.

‘I expect you to be there as well.’

‘However,’

‘If you are not the person I am looking for...’

‘You will die.’

Blake felt a shiver run down her spine when she read the line. She had the unshakable sensation that the encounter should be avoided and dreaded at all costs. But the temptation to confront Adam was strong. Adam never seemed like a killer. He was harsh and had an odd way of doing things, but he wasn’t a killer. Blake pushed aside her doubt and scrolled down again.

‘35th avenue and 17th street. Third alley from the intersection.’

Just the fact that the meeting site was in an alley was enough to make Blake hesitant. But because that intersection just happened to be the one White Castle diner was on, and the designated time to meet was around the time she was going to eat lunch with Yang, Blake was downright terrified. She didn’t even bother with going to find a pen and paper to write down the address and time. Her fingers shook as she scrolled down once more.

‘I hope to see you there.’

Oh, she’d be there alright. Whether she wanted to or not, Adam would be waiting for her just across the street as she munched on some fries with Yang.

Blake shut the laptop and practically dropped it on her coffee table. She wandered into her kitchen, stuck her hand into a cabinet, and felt around for her mug. She stared at it for a moment before setting it on the counter. She instead took her phone out and dialed.

“Hey Blake!” Yang chirped after the second ring. “Did you need anything?”

“Ah no… I just wanted to let you know that you don’t need to pick me up tomorrow for lunch.”

“Oh okay! That’s fine! So we’ll meet there around twelve?”

“Yeah. Twelve.”

_________________________________________________________________

The rain pelted Blake’s umbrella as she hurried towards the alleyway Adam had told her to go to. Passing cars sent up peals of water that sprayed her no matter how hard she tried to avoid them. Blake glanced at the diner’s parking lot but didn’t see Yang’s police cruiser. She sighed in relief; she wouldn’t have to explain to Yang why she was hanging out in dark alleys.

At the third alley entrance, Blake turned onto a narrow strip of concrete covered in the trash spilling over from the overfilled garbage bins. The stench assaulted her nose and made her eyes water. She blinked away the dampness; as soon as her eyes cleared, she saw a tall figured dressed in a black coat. His red hair seemed very out of place amongst the browns and grays of the alley. She narrowed her eyes at Adam.

"Blake. Good. I didn't want to kill anyone today."

"You shouldn't be doing this, Adam. You could get into a lot more trouble than a suspension from school."

"So?" Adam shrugged and Blake caught the hint of a grin on his face. "The stakes are higher but so is the payoff."

"Adam, people are getting hurt because of what you're doing."

"What do you know about what I'm doing?" Adam snarled at her and Blake could hear the edge in his voice.

"I know that the White Fang is still operating."

Adam stared at her for a long moment. He sighed and shook his head, water droplets falling from his hair.

"I figured you'd guess that. You always were sharp."

"Adam. Why were you looking for me?"

"Straight to the point, huh? Well, it's because you and that blonde flatfoot of yours are getting too close to something that's my business. And I need you out of it."

"You're involved with hacking, obtaining and planting child pornography, and murder. This is my business."

"Is that what you told your police friend? That this is your business?" Adam smirked at Blake's wavering stance. "Or did you not tell her about it? You know, withholding information can be just as bad as committing fraud yourself."

"Adam..." Blake took a step forward, hoping she seemed at least a little threatening. Adam didn't look fazed.

"Oh don't worry. She'll be here any minute now. Only, I won't be. Tough luck," Adam shrugged as he backed farther into the shadows of the alleyway. "Better luck next time, Bella."

Blake lunged forward, tossing her umbrella behind her. She scrambled through the puddled water but Adam had already slipped off. In the darkness, Blake couldn't see much and tried to feel around for a wall or fence but only felt the grimy metal of trashcans. With a sigh, she wiped her hands on her pants and faced the brightly lit street.

__________________________________________________________________

Yang pulled into the parking lot of White Castle diner five minutes to noon and was parking her personal car when she saw Blake in the rear view mirror. Her partner threw suspicious looks over her shoulder and at the diner parking lot every several steps but didn't recognize Yang's car for some reason.

Yang watched Blake slip into the alleyway before shutting of the engine and heading into the diner. Nora led her to their usual booth and Yang ordered ahead for Blake along with her own burger.

But ten minutes later, Blake hadn't come out from the alley yet. Her tuna sandwich sat in front of her empty spot and Yang couldn't bring herself to eat her food without the company.

She had noticed that Blake was acting a little strange the day before but Blake had never hung out in dark alleyways before. Yang thought back to the day before when they were discussing the files that appeared on Tuckson's laptop. Blake had definitely tensed up after she input the correct password to the program. She glanced at a few of the files but refused to open them while Yang stood there and tried to divert the conversation away from Yang's concerns over her association with Adam.

Adam. He was the key. They already knew he was connected to Tuckson; he was the one sending information to Kovach. But that wouldn't explain why the password to the files was something only Blake would know. Unless Adam found out she was working Kovach's case and planted the files there for her to find, knowing she wouldn't have a problem getting to them. That would make the Kovach files a decoy from the one intended for Blake.

"What if he left her an address..." Yang muttered to herself, tracing circles on the table, connecting imaginary points on a map. Hadn't Blake said something about finding Adam's location...?

Her eyes flew open with a new fire in them and she bolted from her seat. She marched to the door, only stopping to tell a confused Nora that she -and Blake- would be back to finish their lunch. With that, she stomped outside and across the parking lot. She got all the way to the curb in front of the alley before she stopped. She couldn't see Blake in the darkness but she couldn't hear anything either, which could have been good or bad.

A quick glance at the empty intersection and down the other way convinced her that Blake's life was more important than a few crossing violations. Yang hurried across the street, trying not to slip. She could only pray that Ren wasn't watching or that he would understand her reasons if he was.

The alleyway stunk to high heaven but Yang was more worried about Blake than about the awful smell of rotting garbage. She didn't know this Adam person; he might be the leader of a computer-based system but that didn't mean he couldn't be dangerous. Hell, Wukong was a total nerd when it came to computers but he was still in shape enough to put up a decent fight.

A few steps into the alley, Yang spotted an overturned umbrella catching rainwater. There was a splash farther down the alley and her head shot up, meeting Blake's surprised but tired eyes. It was only then Yang noticed she didn't have her umbrella; her yellow bangs were plastered to her forehead and she tried pushing them aside.

"You didn't get much sleep last night did you?" It was more a statement than a question but Yang didn't want to sound accusing; she made her voice as soft as she could instead.

Blake still flinched at the sound of Yang's voice but nodded a moment later.

"I can guess you were anxious to find him. You probably wanted to see if he had changed."

Blake averted her eyes and said nothing. She shifted her feet and sent tiny ripples in the puddle beneath her. Yang took her silence as a sign to continue.

"I know the feeling. I used to work myself ragged to find hints, clues, anything to find my mom."

Blake's head shot up and caught Yang's face frozen in a rare look of pain and sadness.

"She vanished when I was a kid. Then dad remarried and not long after Ruby came along. But my mom just disappeared without a trace. I lost so many days of sleep and sacrificed so much time just to try to find information about her. But nothing ever came up."

"...So you gave up?"

"No. I realized that what I was doing wasn't working. I was shutting people out and becoming obsessed with finding her. So I stepped back for a while. I got better grades, I took a boxing class, I separated myself from the idea that I alone could find my mom."

Yang stepped closer to Blake, shrugging as she smiled softly.

"I realized I wouldn't have to do it alone. I understand wanting to do things yourself but I was worried you'd be hurt. I saw you enter the alley but I didn't see you leave and it bothered me that you were running into something potentially dangerous without at least someone to shoulder the burden with you."

"This is between me and Adam. This doesn't concern you," Blake snapped as she stepped back, maybe a little harsher than what she intended.

Yang stepped forward again and threw her arms around Blake, trapping her in a tight embrace.

"You're my partner, Blake. You're my friend. It concerns me because I care about you."

Something in Yang's voice made Blake relax. She felt her muscles uncoil, and her arms returning Yang's hug, and the distinct trail of tears as they rolled down her cheeks. She silently swore to herself that she wouldn't keep anything from Yang again.

The rain was still falling when the two of them headed back towards the diner. They didn't say much to each other, even after Nora chewed them out for tracking in so much water. She did, however, warm up their lunches so they wouldn't have to eat them cold.

Yang laid down the money for their lunch and for once, Blake didn't argue.

The car ride to Blake's apartment building was just as quiet. Neither of the two women said anything until Yang pulled into the complex's parking lot. Blake fiddled with her seat belt for a moment.

"Thank you," she murmured. "For understanding."

"That's what friends are for, Blake."

"Yeah." She opened the door and slid out. Yang only barely managed to catch what she said after that. "I guess I got lucky."

The door shut with a click and Yang watched as Blake hurried to the stairs. She sat in the parking lot for a moment longer before starting the car and heading home, where she knew Ruby and Weiss were waiting for her.

Blake fell into bed feeling warm and thought of sunny summer days before drifting off to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Yang didn't know what happened between Blake and Adam in the alleyway that day and she couldn't bring herself to ask Blake. After that afternoon, Blake didn't come in to work for a week and didn't answer any of Yang's phone calls. She texted Yang once, only asking for some time alone. Yang respected that and waited out Blake's absence.

The next week, Blake came into the precinct but refused to say much more than a few words of greetings. She sat in her usual chair across from Yang at her desk and either read a book or flipped through the case files. Yang talked ad nauseam if only to fill the silence.

Ren pulled her aside one day and suggested that she stop talking and actually allow Blake to say something but Yang knew that Blake wasn't ready to talk to her yet. So she filled the air with stories from her childhood; she talked about the time she and Ruby went to the pound and adopted Zwei, and the time Yang thought she was lost in the woods while the family was camping, and the time her stepmother made caramel blast brownies just for her.

Yang was in the middle of telling Blake about the time she and Ruby gave Zwei a cup of coffee at a local dog park when Blake shot up from her chair. Yang’s voice cut off mid-sentence as she stared up at Blake. Her partner said nothing but pushed a manila folder across the desk. She tapped a paragraph on the top page. Yang glanced down and scanned the page.

“Um… that guy that squealed about Schnee Shipping? What about him?”

Blake flipped through a few pages in the folder before stopping on a paper of a different color. She tapped the top of the page again.

“It...says Vasilias from Oak Park grilled him a few times after that first one that we saw. They investigated a location Roderigo had led them to only to find that it was a decoy. Vasilias took him back to the station personally and interrogated him again. The report doesn’t say what he hit Rod with the second time." Yang paused. "That’s a little concerning.”

The pile of papers next to Yang’s computer started vibrating rapidly and Yang drew her elbow back in surprise. She glanced at Blake, who only shrugged and collected her bundle of papers. Yang shifted through her papers and files before pulling out her phone and sliding right to answer Ruby’s call.

“Hey kid! What’s up?”

“Yang! Great news!”

“What is it? Did The Achieve Men announce a new tour?”

“What? No! This is about Weiss!”

“Ugh, Ruby I don’t care if you asked her out yet; I’m at work-”

Blake raised an eyebrow at Yang but she only smirked.

“NO!! I told you not talk about that...”

“Heh heh, anyway, continue?”

“WEISS told me that she was getting more frustrated with her dad’s business and that she’s going to do some digging into their records. She wants to send you all the information she finds out.”

“Ruby! That’s perfect! Tell her that I’d be happy to accept! However…” Yang’s eyes darted towards where Ren was sitting before lowering her voice. “I can’t technically be aware that she’s going to obtain this information. So tell her to be careful and to submit it to me anonymously.”

“Alright, I’m sure she’ll understand. But I called because I thought you’d tell her not to do anything and to leave it to the police! She wouldn't listen to me when I told her it wasn’t a good idea to investigate by herself.”

“This is me we’re talking about, Ruby. If it’s off the record, then it’s pretty much fair game.”

Blake sent her a disapproving look but Yang only shrugged.

“Fine” Ruby sighed into the phone. “This is true. Anyway, I just wanted that. Weiss is giving me a ride home today so you don’t have to worry about picking me up!”

“Alright little sister. I’ll see you later then. Oh and? Try flirting with Weiss. Maybe that’ll help you a bit.”

“Your sarcasm is not appreciated, Yang.”

Yang chuckled as she hung up the call and turned to Blake. She tossed her phone onto the mess of papers on her desk with a lazy flick of her wrist.

“Okay so, where were we?”

* * *

The next Wednesday afternoon found Blake and Yang sweating bullets while Officer Neptune Vasilias chattered on and on about how he grilled Roderigo until he finally broke down and gave him information. His version of the story included a lot of desk slamming and yelling but Yang had a feeling Neptune just talked for four hours to drive Roderigo to exasperation. His partner, lieutenant Scarlet David, neither confirmed nor denied Yang's theory when she asked him.

The four of them stood outside a rusty metal shack of a warehouse sweating under the harsh sunlight. This didn’t seem to bother Neptune in the slightest as he continued to talk. He bumped a fist against the flimsy wall and jolted Yang back to attention.

“So, I’m still not sure why Roderigo would lie to me after I pulled out his file but I got him to talk eventually.”

“And you’re sure this is the right place?” Yang cast a skeptical look at the thin wall riddled with holes.

“Of course! Scarlet and I checked it out last week. We didn’t want to call you two lovely ladies down on a false alarm.”

“So did you find anything during your initial investigation?” Yang ignored Neptune’s flirtatious wink with a roll of her eyes.

“Drugs mostly. All Schnee-grade,” Scarlet shrugged. “A few production papers. We didn’t want to go too much into it seeing as how it’s your case.”

“Ah, thank you.” Yang gestured at the door behind them. “May we?”

Scarlet locked his arm with Neptune’s and stepped to the side, dragging Neptune with him. He elbowed his partner in the ribcage when he tried protesting. Neptune scowled at nothing for a moment before shrugging off his partner’s arm. Yang stepped towards the door and tugged on the handle. The metal door was heavier than it looked and it scraped over the dirt as Yang forced the rusty hinges open. She wiped her hands on her jeans before waving Blake through first.

The P.I. stepped into the dark and flicked on her pocket flashlight to find the main light switch. The overhead lights illuminated the room to reveal scorch marks along the walls of the building. A layer of ash covered the ground and billowed up whenever someone moved. Metal tables stood warped in the center of the room. The smell of smoke hung heavy in the air. Blake crouched to inspect the ash. She grabbed a handful and let it run through her fingers.

“This...It wasn’t like this last week…” Neptune stammered.

“Someone must have found out you were here; they were probably trying to hide something,” Yang wandered towards on of the misshapen tables. “You took pictures of everything here though, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Scarlet nodded. “I can email them all to you when I get back to the office.”

“Thanks Scarlet; I really appreciate you guys helping us out.”

Something flashed in the corner of Blake’s eye and she rose from her crouched position. She stared absentmindedly at Yang shuffling through the ash. The flash came again from somewhere behind her partner.

“Yang.”

“Yes Blake?” Yang’s head turned sharply at the low sound of her partner’s voice. It was the first thing Blake had said since the incident.

Blake walked up to Yang and pointed behind her.

“I think there’s a back room over there.”

Yang nodded and the two made their way to the back wall. Another flash led the pair to a door of the same material as the walls, thus almost invisible from the other side of the building. Yang  crouched to take a closer look at the metal. She found a small white crystal embedded in the door that was catching the filtered sunlight from the holes in the ceiling. Yang stood to allow Blake to try and pry the crystal out of the metal with a pair of tweezers.

“Hey Nep! Was there a crystal in this door last week?”

“A crystal? I don’t think so. Do you remember anything like that, Scarlet?”

Scarlet only shook his head. Blake huffed as she tore the crystal from the door and dropped it into a plastic baggie. She moved aside to let Yang wrench the door open. The back room was filled with ash just like the main room and the walls had similar scorch marks along them. However, a strange symbol was drawn in ash on the back wall. Yang had never seen anything like it before; she shot a quick glance at Blake but got a confused look back.

“So what’s back here?” Neptune stuck his head through the doorway. His eyes locked on the back wall and he righted himself. “Oh shit.That looks demonic, I’m out.”

He fled the room but Yang and Blake remained still. Yang tilted her head a bit to the side.

“It doesn’t look demonic… It looks more like…”

“Shoes.”

 **  
**“Yeah. Shoes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trash for taking this long!!!!  
> but this chapter was rlly hard to write for some godawful reason whoops  
> i am glad that it turned out pretty okay though


	14. Chapter 14

A familiar face on the television screen caught Yang’s attention as she walked back to her case table. She set the mugs of coffee down on some loose papers before lunging over the couch for the remote and turning the volume up.

“...We’re currently working with the police department to get Senator Ironwood’s case the appropriate trial he deserves.”

Yang scoffed at Winter Schnee; Ironwood’s department had hardly contacted the police since the beginning of the investigation. Yang had suspicions that they were running their own investigation in tandem to the official police one. Blake hushed her from over her coffee.

“At this point in time, all we know is that the illegal pornography was not placed on the hard drive by Senator Ironwood himself, but by an outside party looking for a chance to sully the Senator’s spotless reputation.”

“Do we know the identity of the one responsible for the crime,” a reporter called out from the crowd.

“Yes, we do. But that information is currently classified to only police and Ironwood’s bureau.”

Yang lowered the volume of the t.v. before tossing the remote away. She pulled herself up from her crooked position over the couch. Blake only stared at her as Yang sat back down at the case table, sipping her coffee. Hardly a minute passed before Yang jumped up again.

"You know, since we’re stuck in the case, we should have lunch and just discuss it!”

Blake rolled her eyes at Yang but smiled anyway. Yang bounded towards the kitchen and slid open a counter drawer. She rifled through the stack of take-out menus before settling on Yatsuhashi’s Garden. She walked back to the case table, menu already unfolded. Blake raised an eyebrow.

”Japanese?”

”The owner is a pal of mine. Maybe he’ll deliver himself when he finds out it’s me!”

”Wouldn't he be busy with the store?”

”Probably. Here,” Yang shoved the menu towards Blake, “pick whatever you want! Let me go tell Ruby we’re getting takeout.”

A moment after Yang left the room, Blake heard a loud screech from the back room. Ruby came running into the living room with Zwei following her, trying to keep up.

“Do you think Yatsu will come this time?”

“Probably. Do you want the usual?”

“Yeah!”

Ruby threw herself onto the couch and started flipped through channels. She groaned at the local news station.

“Ugh another robbery. I think they’ve been increasing in rate for a few months now.”

“You’d be right, Ruby.” Yang sat at the table dialing her phone. “I myself have investigated a few. Standard break ins, cashier harrassments, etc. The weird thing is that a lot of them were committed by Roman Torchwick.”

“Torchwick?” Blake tilted her head to the side over her coffee. “He’s never operated on a scale like this before.”

“Yeah, I know. And we just can’t seem to catch him or his associates.” Yang sighed and shrugged before getting up with the menu and wandering towards the kitchen. “Hi, I’d like to place an order.”

“What does Torchwick need with all that money?” Blake shook her head and put the mug down on the table. “And I don’t ever remember him playing well with others.”

“Well…” Ruby shrugged as she tried to think of a motive for Torchwick. “maybe he’s working for someone else and they need a lot of money for their dastardly plan to take over the world!”

“I suppose that could be it,” Blake chuckled. “If not the world, then at least the city.”

“Yeah!”

“Good news kids,” Yang shouted from the kitchen. “Yatsu IS coming!”

“Yay!”

\-------------------------------------------------------

Roman Torchwick stood in one of his many warehouses, hunched over a map of the city spread out over a table. He tapped the edge of the table as he studied the list of locations he was provided. He was running some numbers in his head when the metal doors to the building slammed open. He turned in a huff, an insult ready on his lips, only to face not one of his own men, but Emerald and Mercury. He rolled his eyes and plastered a fake smile on his face.

“So she sent the kids again!” He threw his arms over their shoulders and grimaced. “What could she possibly want now...”

Emerald slid out from under Roman’s arm with a scowl on her face.

“You haven't been very clean, Roman. You’re leaving trails.”

“Do you think that stealing millions of dollars from every register or bank vault in this city is easy? You three may work in the shadows but if you haven't noticed, I’m practically public enemy number one right now.”

“That's your fault for being so careless.”

“Careless? Why you little brat-” Roman gestured to the crates stacked up in the warehouse. “Each of these boxes has $50,000. Now I don't mean to brag sweetheart, but I'm a professional, not some stray picked up off the street.”

“I wasn't picked up off the street,” Mercury chimed in.

“Shut up Mercury,” Emerald hissed. “Look Roman, We were sent to give you some... friendly advice. You've been careless lately, the police are catching on to too much. Particularly those two annoying ones we saw a few weeks ago.”

“Lucky for you, Schnee’s been careless too,” Mercury cut in. “And we think more so than you.”

“The cops were closing in on Schnee… So we had to sacrifice an entire Dust plant to throw them off.”

“What a waste of a good warehouse,” Mercury sighed. “But Schnee should have kept his end of the deal under control.”

“Do you understand what we’re saying?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Roman shook his head and twirled his cane. “Clean up or get blown up.”

“And now that Schnee has straightened up…” Emerald let her sentence trail off, not taking her eyes off of Roman.

Roman fidgeted with his hat as the duo stared at him. After a moment, he couldn't stand the silence.

“I get it! Sheesh, you guys are all so grim; learn to lighten up a bit, will you?” He walked over to one of the open crates by his map table. “Why do we need all this money anyway?”

“She told us you'd ask that. And she told us to tell you that you'll know when you need it.”

“Wait a minute, she said we’ll tell him what he needs to know when he needs to know it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty positive that's what she said.”

“Pretty positive isn't good enough, Mercury.”

“It's better than a quote that's clearly wrong.”

“Where is she anyway?” Roman huffed.

Mercury and Emerald exchanged a brief look before Emerald shrugged.

“She's at a job interview.”

\-------------------------------------------------------

“Your qualifications are impeccable and your past experience is extensive; why apply for an internship rather than a full-time job?”

“I hope you understand my reasons, Ms. Goodwitch, but I am currently still very tied up with personal matters. However, I wanted to get involved with the police as soon as I could manage. I hope there isn't any issue.”

“That's not an issue at all, Ms…?”

“Fall.”

“Yes...Ms. Fall.” Goodwitch shuffled some papers around on her desk and signed a few. “You're all set. You can start on Monday; I'll have one of the senior officers walk you through your duties.”

“Thank you very much.” Cinder Fall smiled at the division commander. “I can't wait to start.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is for Monty Oum. If it wasn't for him and his influence and his amazing creation, I wouldn't be telling stories about these characters. He gave me something to love but he also became an inspiration. I'll keep moving forward, but not without his memory and the characters he put his heart into.


	15. Chapter 15

The pounding of the club’s music could be heard from just outside it’s doors. People glanced at Yang as she sat on her parked motorbike checking her text messages. There was an angry red one over the calls icon and she saw that it was a missed call from Blake. Her finger hovered over the screen for a moment before she sighed and decided to call her back later. She shoved the phone into her front pocket and shut the motorcycle’s engine off. She left it propped up next to the curb and walked through the opaque double doors of the club.

 

The inside of the club lit up with flashing colored lights that changed with the music. Yang stood at the doorway and took in the sight of people dancing in the crowd on the dancefloor below. A haze of smoke hung over their heads and Yang could spot some people in the dark corners of the main room smoking. She smirked when she saw her target bartending.

 

Yang made her way up the bar and tapped the counter twice to get the bartender’s attention.

 

“Strawberry sunrise, no ice.”

 

“Can I see some ID pl-” the owner of the club stopped mid-sentence as he turned and saw who it was. “Oh for fu-... Listen officer, I swear I've been clean since I got out.”

 

“Nice to see you too, Junior! I'm glad the club survived without you here.”

 

“Yeah, no thanks to you.”

 

“Junior, you broke the law. I'm not going to let that slide even if you are my favorite informant,” Yang teased as she twisted a lock of hair between her fingers.

 

“How was I supposed to- Actually no never mind.” Junior sighed heavily and lowered his voice. “What do you need?”

 

“Well for starters, since you're so ’clean,’” Yang took out a Manila folder from her bag and shoved it across the slightly sticky bar top, “could you tell me why your men were working for Roman Torchwick?”

 

“I… damn.” Junior opened the folder and flipped through security pictures of his men from a few nights ago. “Listen Blondie, Torchwick and I aren't working together, despite what the photos suggest.”

 

“Then? Why were they with him?”

 

“When I first got back out a few months ago, I needed cash. The club survived but it took a real dive while I was gone. It was around then that Torchwick came in one night and asked to hire out my best guys. He didn't tell me why or for what, just that it was ‘all part of the plan,’ whatever that meant. But I really needed the money to start back up again. Now it's been a few months and none of the guys I sent him have come back.”

 

“Well, to my knowledge none of them have been arrested or killed. Torchwick is a mess of a thief but he he’s a clean criminal, if you get what I'm saying.”

 

“Yeah, I get it,” Junior huffed. “I spent time with the messy ones if you've forgotten.”

 

“I haven’t Junior.” Yang gave him a sympathetic smile as she collected the folder. ”Thanks for telling me all you know. Good luck with the club.”

 

Yang turned to start weaving her way through the crowd when she felt a heavy weight on her right shoulder. She looked back at Junior with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Wait. That wasn't all of it.”

 

“Oh?” Yang turned back to face Junior as he released her shoulder. “Let's hear it then.”

 

“While I was in prison, there were rumors. About Torchwick. There are some people who think he's not working alone.”

 

“Well yeah, he’s hired groups of thugs and doesn't go anywhere without them.”

 

“No, not them,” Junior shook his head. “People were saying he was working for someone, not with someone.” He barked out a laugh. “It's all just rumor but I thought I'd give you the heads up.”

 

“Hmm...Thanks Junior; I really appreciate it.” Yang threw him a playful wink. “Keep your nose clean while I'm gone.”

 

Junior rolled his eyes and went back to wiping down some shot glasses. Yang walked outside and leaned against one of the walls as she scribbled in her notebook. After a moment, Yang sighed and put away the notebook, pulling out her phone instead. She quick-dialed Blake and waited for an answer.

 

“Hello?” Blake mumbled into the phone.

 

“Hey Blake, it’s me! Sorry to call you back so late but I got some information from a trusted informant of mine and wanted to go over it with you.”

 

“Yang, it’s twelve thirty in the morning. Can’t it wait?”

 

“Well, technically it could.” Yang walked over to where her bike was parked. “I’ll run it by you tomorrow then.”

 

“It is tomorrow, Yang.”

 

“It’s tomorrow when I wake up!”

 

“Okay Yang,” Blake laughed. “See you tomorrow then.”

 

“Good night!”

“What do you mean he’s working for someone?”

 

Blake was scanning over Yang’s notes from the night before as the detective herself was inputting the information onto the police database. Yang shrugged before taking a sip from her coffee mug.

 

“Honestly, I have no clue. For sure he’s working with someone, that much we know. But I can’t think of anyone he’d be working for. Right now, he’s the biggest criminal in the city; if there was someone higher in rank than him, they’re doing a really good job at keeping a low profile.”

 

“But it’s a possibility right?”

 

“I mean, sure. It’s possible. But Torchwick doesn’t seem like the kind to take orders.”

 

It was silent for a moment as Yang typed away at the computer what Junior told her while Blake rifled through the Torchwick case files. Yang’s phone broke the silence with a quick buzz.

 

“It’s a message from my lab guys. They said the fire at the Dust plant was arson. They found traces of cocaine in places and organic material but nothing human,” Yang sighed.

 

“That’s good though.”

 

“Yeah but it means that the plant was cleared out beforehand. The arsonist got the people out and took the equipment and probably any sensitive documents they didn’t want burned up.”

 

“So not a direct attack on Schnee, but a deliberate attempt to hinder our investigation…”

 

“Most likely.” Yang leaned back and sighed. “Blake, I-”

 

“Captain. Miss Belladonna.”

 

“Commander Goodwitch!” Yang bolted up from her chair.

 

Blake remained sitting but nodded her head at Goodwitch.

 

“I’m here to inform you that Miss Fall here,” Goodwitch gestured to the woman next to her, “is a new intern hire. Please be sure to keep an eye on her.”

 

“Of course, ma'am,” Yang gave the two women a warm smile. “Welcome to the team, Miss Fall.”

 

“It’s good to be here,” Fall said with a smile.

 

“Now captain,” Goodwitch trained a sharp look on Yang. “Where is your lieutenant?”

 

“Well,” Yang glanced at the time on her phone, noting a text from Ruby, “it’s too early for him to be at the diner, so probably somewhere in the building.”

 

Goodwitch sighed before nodding at her and Blake. She started to walk away but Fall lingered for a moment longer before following the Commander.

 

“That was weird,” Blake murmured, turning to Yang.

  
“Nah, Goodwitch always introduces the newbies to me. I think it’s so they know who’s who,” Yang winked at Blake with a smirk, “and who’s in charge.” She flopped back into her chair and grabbed her phone to read Ruby’s text. “Anyway, Ruby just found out that her campus police force hired some new kids and she’s going to meet them tomorrow!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp. this chapter was really hard to write four months ago lmao but here we are, hopefully back on track


	16. Chapter 16

The chair Ruby was sitting in wobbled as her leg jumped quickly, making Weiss wince every time the metal stub on one of the legs hit the floor. After the seventeenth hit, Weiss decided that enough was enough.

 

“Ruby!” She hissed as she shot her friend a glare. “Would you quit shaking your leg?”

 

“But Weiiiss,” Ruby whined, “we hardly ever get new recruits! I’m excited about having new people to talk to!”

 

Weiss furrowed her eyebrows and turned her attention back to her phone. Ruby caught the expression on her face and jolted.

 

“Not that I mean I don’t like talking to you all the time or that I don't think you’re interesting or anything;  I just- I mean- I uuuh…”

 

“Forget it Ruby.” Weiss looked back up to Ruby and smiled. “I know you well enough to understand what you are...attempting to say.”

 

Ruby beamed and went back to kicking her legs excitedly, scanning the passing faces for unfamiliar ones. The room was large but rather empty; it was mostly decorated with uncomfortable school chairs and giant bean bags with movable screens separating them to give the illusion of privacy. There were file cabinets towards the back but Ruby knew there were only a few papers in there, mostly the minutes from meetings and various requests from students with problems not important enough for the police department. Not that Ruby thought someone’s missing cat was unimportant, it just wasn’t within the police department’s immediate concern.

 

When Velvet Scarlatina, the force’s supervisor and a professional police photographer, walked in, Ruby bolted from her chair to greet her.

 

“Professor Scarlatina! Did the new hires come in today?”

 

“Ah...Yes they were just behind me…” She glanced over her shoulder just as two more people walked through the door. “Ruby, meet Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black.”

 

“Hi!” Ruby bounded over to the two of them to shake their hands. “I’m Ruby Rose and I’m captain of the force!”

 

“Nice to meet you,” Emerald said with a smile.

 

“Hey,” Mercury nodded once.

 

“And this is my lieutenant, Weiss Schnee,” Ruby gestured to her partner standing right behind her.

 

“Schnee?” Emerald raised her eyebrows. “Like the shipping company? That’s pretty cool.”

 

“Er...Yes. Thank you,” Weiss pushed her hair over her shoulder.

 

“Would you like to have a look around?” Velvet gestured to the room. “There’s not much here but I can’t assign you any positions until the rest of the force is here.”

 

“Meetings are on Thursday nights right?” Mercury directed his question to Ruby.

 

“Yep! Thursdays at 6pm.”

 

“Then…” Emerald and Mercury exchanged a look. “We can wait until Thursday. We have a class soon.”

 

“Alright! See you then!”

* * *

 

“How did you two do today?”

 

“It was a piece of cake, ma’am.” Mercury sprawled himself onto a nearby cot and pulled out a box of tools. “Emerald and I could hardly keep a straight face around those losers.”

 

“The one with the red hair- Rudi? Ruby? Ugh, she was so hyper and nice.” Emerald rolled her eyes and made a gagging motion. “It was sickening.”

 

“Did you convince them though?”

 

“Oh, yeah. They were all so gullible and trusting. They didn’t even care that Mercury said seven words in total.”

 

“At least I didn’t mention the Schnee company.”

 

“You what?” Cinder turned a sharp glare onto Emerald.

 

“The other girl is one of Schnee’s daughters. The younger one. I figured it would be more suspicious to not mention her relation to a multi-million dollar shipping company.”

 

“Hm… fine. But don’t mention it again. She might get suspicious.”

 

“And what about you, Cinder?”  Mercury didn’t look up from his leg as he tinkered with the parts. “Did everything go according to plan on your end?”

 

“Yes and no.” Cinder turned on her heel and walked over to the planning table. “They showed me around but did not allow me to roam freely. They also made sure to keep confidentials about the case hidden from my sight.”

 

“What do you plan to do with them?” Emerald sat at her own cot across from Mercury’s.

 

“Nothing.” Cinder touched the cigar burn on the map where the dust plant was marked. “For now. I want to see how much I can get from them.” She turned back to face Emerald and Mercury. “I want you two to do the same at the college. Learn about them. Get as much information about their families, likes, dislikes, and fears as you can.”

 

Emerald and Mercury nodded before giving each other a look. A soft buzzing filled the silent room. Cinder reached under the table and removed a small phone taped to the bottom. She scanned the screen.

 

“It would seem our anonymous friends have completed the item necessary for the next step of the plan.” Cinder taped the phone back under the table. “Would either of you like to visit our dear friend Adam?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol sup nerds im going by the seat of my pants here but hopefully i can get to actually writing more (i know what a concept)


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol college pt.2

The hot summer air had hardly cooled for the night when three phones in the precinct rang at the same time. Each call was from an anonymous source reporting gang violence at different locations in the city; Yang wasn't concerned about the violence all that much. Gangs usually spiked in violence during the summer then died back down as the school year started. The violence was hardly ever anything major; the worst she had ever seen was one gang member stabbed another then panicked and drove them to the nearest hospital. So when Yang drove her squad car to the scene of the second call, she was unprepared for the sight of three bodies.

 

The grimy alleyway was lit up only by the streetlight at the end and the flashes of police cameras. Scene technicians had already rolled out yellow caution tape and were starting to comb the area around the scene for trace evidence. Yang sidestepped a pair of medical examiners to walk to Ren, who was kneeling by a shaking boy and patting his back. Yang waited a moment as Ren comforted the kid before waving a deputy down to take over. Ren sighed heavily as he wiped his hands in his pants.

 

“That's three tonight. How many was it yesterday?”

 

“Two. But they weren't casualties; just a few broken noses and egos. The gangs are rowdy this summer.”

 

“It's never been this bad before.” Ren gestured to the tarp covered mounds on the ground. “What's gotten into them?”

 

“You couldn't get anything out of the kid?”

 

“I didn't want to push him too much. One of these guys was his brother.”

 

“Oh.”

 

The pair watched for a moment as medical examiners searched the bodies. One of the on scene deputies was handing the witness a phone. Photographers and the scene technicians were still combing the alleyway. Ren disappeared to question the crowd forming behind the yellow tape. Yang paced the alley a few times, making notes of the disturbances in the debris. She then questioned the examiners and the first beat cop on the scene. A quick once over of the bodies told her that they were all young; maybe high school aged? Each of them had various cuts, bruises, and a stab wound or two. The medical examiner said the time of death was probably no more than an hour. Even though that was a rough estimate, Yang still felt guilty that the police didn't get there sooner. She had just placed a cigarette lighter in an evidence bag when she rolled her shoulders with a groan.

 

“You should head home captain,” a faint smile was on Ren’s lips as he walked up but Yang knew it was a tired gesture. “You should've gone home an hour ago.”

 

“Crime never takes a break, my young padawan,” Yang sighed as she stood up. “But it’s alright because I've got a dog and a little sister to go home to.”

 

“Pfft, well then say hello to Ruby for me.”

 

“I will, but only if you tell Nora I say hey,” Yang winked and wiggled her eyebrows at Ren.

 

He flushed as he glared off into space.

 

“You wouldn't know if I did either way.”

 

“I have my ways.” Yang nudged her lieutenant’s shoulder with another exaggerated wink. “Well I'm calling in the all clear here so go home and rest. I'll see you tomorrow.”

 

“Good night captain.”

* * *

 

The next couple of weeks saw gang violence every day and kept the police department busier than ever. The murder rate had climbed steadily even within gangs with no prior murder records. Blake would show up in the mornings when Yang’s shifts started but disappeared in the commotion after a call came in. Yang was hurt at first, but slowly shrugged it off as Blake not needing to work on cases other than Tukson’s. Tukson’s case file was pushed farther and farther down the list of Yang’s priorities as more reports were required of her from more recent incidents.

 

It was on one of her days off in early August when Yang was lazing around on her couch when the news played a segment about the growing crime rate. She reached for the remote to switch the channel but was stopped by someone being interviewed in front of her precinct station.

 

“-And have the police done anything? No! Our teenagers are running off and getting killed but the police haven't apprehended the people responsible!”

 

The small crowd behind them cheered in agreement, holding up signs and posters.

 

“Our children are being killed on the streets and what have the police done?”

 

“Nothing!” the crowd behind her screeched.

 

“Uh, well thank you,” the interviewer grimaced at the camera before reaching to get his microphone back. “That's all the time we have for now.”

 

“I will not stop until the police have taken action!” The woman gripped the microphone tighter and shoved towards the camera. The screen filled up with her face. “The government is responsible for these tragedies so it is their job to fix them!”

 

Yang watched in growing horror as the interviewer called his security guard to detain the woman and the crowd behind the woman rally together to pull the woman away from the guard. Each yelling voice added to the mounting cacophony of noise until they blurred together and Yang could only catch bits and phrases from the roar of voices.

 

The soft buzzing of her phone broke her trance; she shook her head and shut off the tv before answering the call.

 

“Hello?” The familiar voice spoke before Yang could greet them, a tinge of worry over the question.

 

“Oh,” Yang’s nerves calmed down some. “Hi Blake.”

 

“I uh, just saw the news. It looked pretty rough.”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“Yang, are you...okay?”

 

“What? Haha, yeah I'm fine. This is pretty normal actually.”

 

“Hmm.. alright; if you say so.” Blake sighed softly. “Have you, uh, heard anything about…?”

 

“Our case? No. Everything’s been swamped with these other murders.”

 

“Oh… alright. Well if you hear anything…”

 

“I'll call you right away, of course!”

 

“Thank you, Yang,” Blake giggled into the phone. “I'll talk to you later then?”

 

“Yeah, sure. Later.”

 

“Bye.”

 

Yang tossed her phone to the couch and stretched before flopping down herself. She heard Ruby laugh from somewhere behind her.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing.” Ruby skipped in front of the couch with Zwei in her arms. “Just that you should talk to Blake more.”

 

“Uuuugh Ruby,” Yang buried her head under a pillow. “I don't want to talk about it right now.”

 

“And if she does? Hm?”

 

“Nah, she probably doesn't.”

 

“You don't know that for sure but,” Ruby dumped Zwei onto Yang’s stomach with a laugh. “Here's a dog anyway for your troubles.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> technically not nanowrimo but lmao im gonna try 50k anyway

Blake Belladonna wasn't usually the kind of person that paid attention to cases she wasn't working on. That almost always included official police cases; it wasn't often that she was hired by the police. In fact, the case she was working on with Yang was the first police case she’d ever been offered. Usually, the kinds of cases her clients hired her for were either non-criminal or not the police’s jurisdiction to take. She had found her fair share of people that weren't technically “missing” in police eyes, found lost objects that weren't stolen, found stolen objects the police gave up on, and etcetera. She never gave much thought as to why the police didn't do those jobs. But the late summer gang fights and murders Yang had to investigate every day made her suspect that the police typically had more on their plate than what she subconsciously thought.

 

Even in all the chaos of gang violence, she still showed up to the station on the mornings when Yang worked. She sat quietly looking over their notes and files while Yang typed up report after report before being called away to another crime scene. In all the hysteria, Blake slipped away. She still got calls from other clients; her job was just as busy as Yang’s some days. She ended up just buying an old used car to actually drive around town to do her job. Occasionally, she'd be driving down a street only to pass Yang’s police car parked haphazardly on the curb. She never stopped, but she wondered if Yang could see her pass by.

 

In Yang’s absence, however, Blake kept a close eye on Torchwick and his movements. The man himself was hardly seen outside of criminal circles anymore- his goons only occasionally in a bar or someplace equally sketchy. It wasn't that she thought Torchwick was involved; but she herself was becoming more involved with criminal action in the city. She found herself listening to the news more and more, hoping to catch a police case segment. Occasionally, she’d see Yang being interviewed or questioned or whatever reporters did and she would feel a tiny swell of pride. To knowing someone as important as the police captain? Maybe. To being that person’s friend? Definitely.

 

That was part of the reason why she called Yang after that particularly nasty protester on the news. Yang was a tough woman, but Blake knew she had her limits. Constantly being under fire for something she couldn't control was probably stressing her out to no end. As Blake stared at her phone, she absently wished Yang could take a break longer than a day or two at a time.

 

After a moment, Blake broke out of her trance and sighed and put her phone on her coffee table, tapping on the tv remote to shut the protesting crowd off her screen. She slouched back into her couch cushions and her black kitten jumped onto her lap, purring loudly. Blake scratched her cat’s ears for a moment until she heard her phone buzz on the table.She reached over and scanned the update for her newest email. It was something about a worried mother and her kid's suspected drug use. Blake sighed and quickly typed out a response asking for the son’s usual daily schedule. She didn't expect an immediate response but hardly a minute after she sent her reply, the mother had sent an attached copy of her son’s work schedule and a detailed list of where he usually was. Blake juggled the options in her head before sending the mother her pricing information and a confirmation that she’d start tracking her son in about an hour.

 

Blake ran a hand through her hair and sighed again before pushing her cat to the side. Ignoring an offended meow, Blake changed out of her pajamas and threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before pulling on sneakers and stuffing her phone and keys into her pocket. She also slipped a tiny notebook and pen into her back pocket.

 

“I'm leaving now, Blanca.” Blake looked her cat square in the face before kissing the top of her head. “Be good while I'm gone.”

* * *

 

Combing the city for one high schooler was just about as hard as Blake thought it would be. School was out of session so she could go there, and since she wasn't actually a police officer, she wouldn't be able to justify pulling him from his work to ask some questions. “Worked” was a loose term if she was being honest. According to the mom, the kid was doing mandatory service time for some minor offense a few months ago. So since Blake couldn't flash a shiny police badge to get inside, she waited across the street at an outdoor café table until the time the kid was supposed to get out.

 

At around three in the afternoon, her target stuck his head out of the building doors and looked both ways down the sidewalk before leaving the building. He started heading south, towards the more industrial area of the city. Blake knew his apartment was north of where he worked and took note of the direction change. She paid for her drink and casually headed south on her side of the sidewalk, trailing half a block behind him.

 

He headed south for three blocks, turned right and headed west for two blocks, then turned left, then right again a block later. Blake took careful note of the streets they were going down as she tailed the kid. While heading west on third street, her target suddenly turned and disappeared into an alley half a block down from Blake. She stopped and peered out from behind the corner of the building when she heard faint voices nearby. A moment passed, the voices stopped, then a tall man with bright orange hair and a hat left the alleyway, swinging a cane back and forth and whistling softly. The man seemed familiar but she couldn't quite place where she knew him from. She turned her attention back to the alleyway entrance. Her target did not follow the first man.

 

She waited until the other man had turned off the street before inching closer to the alley he had come out from. She peeked around the corner only to find her target lying on the ground, a brown paper bag next to him. She rushed towards the kid, quickly checked for any flesh wounds, then fished a receipt from her pocket. She kneeled next to him and placed the receipt on his neck before pressing her fingers down to check for his pulse. A faint thumping was there and she let out a sigh of relief. She moved her hand away from his neck then used the receipt to poke at the paper bag. She tugged at the crumpled top of the bag and eased it open to reveal three wads of money bound together.

 

Blake let her hand fall from the bag and straightened up from her crouched position. She shoved the receipt back into her pocket and pulled her phone out of a different pocket. She took one long look at the boy on the floor before dialing 911.

 

“Hello, 911, what's your emergency?”

 

“I just witnessed a boy get knocked out. He’s on third street and twenty seventh.”

 

“I've dispatched a squad car to your location. Did you see the attacker?”

 

“Yes, he was tall -probably around 6’3- and had ginger colored hair. He had a cane and a bowler hat on him.”

 

“Is there anything else you can tell me?”

 

“The kid that was knocked out is a high school junior with a juvenile record. I found him with a paper bag with a few wads of cash. At least a couple of hundred dollars.”

 

“Thank you. Now I have to ask you to stay in that area for further questioning by the responding officer.”

 

“Of course.”

* * *

 

“What do you mean I was seen?!”

 

“That detective was snooping around! I don't know how she knew where to be but she saw you.”

 

“Did she recognize me?”

 

“I don't think so..?”

 

Torchwick sighed in relief before gesturing to Emerald with his cane.

 

“Wait...were you following her?”

 

“No, I just happened to be where she was while she happened to be where you were.” Emerald huffed . “I've been following her for a few weeks now.”

 

“But she didn't tell the other one?”

 

“They haven't seen each other in a few days.”

 

“Mine hardly goes anywhere besides the station, her apartment, and crime scenes,” Mercury chimed in.

 

“How'd you meet the kid, anyway?” Emerald shot a look at Mercury before turning back to Torchwick. “I thought you didn't take strays.”

 

“I'll take anyone we can get, at this point. Besides, he was highly recommended. All I needed to do was promise a steady flow of drugs, which I can do thanks to our mutual friends.”

 

“Our mutual friends are recovering quite nicely, in fact.” Cinder smirked at Roman’s startled expression as he whirled around to face her. “Their little blunder was only a mild inconvenience.”

 

“Yeah. ‘Course.”

 

“But take care to not throw their name around so freely. It wouldn't do to have another misstep in the plan.”

 

“What about your end of the plan? Has Adam pulled through?”

 

“The device is ready and in place.” Cinder paused in mock thought. “The bugs are in place too. Moles can only learn so much.”

 

“And have you learned anything new?”

  
“They’ve been preoccupied with our distractions. And the public is reacting just as well as we had hoped.”


End file.
